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fnfcraatioital €bxxmt\an Stories 

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INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES 

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE 
OF TEACHING 



BY 

JAMES JOHONNOT 

REVISED BY 

SARAH EVANS JOHONNOT 




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NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1896 



LRI0X5 



Copyright, 1878, 
By JAMES JOHONNOT. 



Copyright, 1896, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 



Electrotyped and Printed 
at the appleton press, u. s. a. 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



This book embodies in a compact form the results 
of the wide experience and careful reflection of an en- 
thusiastic teacher and school supervisor. 

James Johonnot was a power in teachers' institutes 
to arouse professional aspiration and kindle zeal for 
improvement. He advocated the new education as 
based on the methods of Pestalozzi and as finding its 
material of instruction not merely in the traditional 
three R's but also in natural science. The chapters 
in this book on the Objective Course of Instruction, 
Object-Teaching, Systems of Education Compared, all 
develop the Pestalozzian method of interesting the 
pupil in the study of real things. Again, the chapters 
on the Eelative Value of the Different Branches of 
Instruction, Agassiz, and Science in its Relations to 
Education, all lay emphasis on the doctrine that natu- 
ral science should lead in this course of study. 

Mr. Johonnot ranked himself on the side of the 
educational reformers, and this his book belongs 
under the division which we have described as criti- 
cisms of education. The mere routine teacher who f ol- 



yi EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

lows in a lifeless manner the traditions handed down to 
him is often goaded into something like vital action by 
the taunts and scorn of the reformer. It is the only 
door of hope for him. He must break with tradition, 
and learn to think and act for himself. Then he can 
grow. 

The first and most needed reform in methods of 
instruction called for in the educational revival begun 
by Horace Mann was the substitution of something 
better for text-book memorizing. Lessons on objects 
were recommended as the best substitute for lessons 
on mere words. "Things before words" became the 
motto. Great improvement in the work of class in- 
struction followed when the teacher began to lay less 
emphasis on the parrotlike repetition of the words in 
the book and to insist on the understanding of the 
meaning, and especially to require illustrations drawn 
from the pupil's own experience. It became a part of 
the work of the good teacher to lead his pupils to test 
and verify by actual experiment the statements of the 
book, and the method of investigation began to take 
the place of the method of memorizing the words of 
the author. 

Instruction had sunk to this low level of parroting 
the words of the book, or, rather, had remained on it 
as a necessary consequence of the ungraded and un- 
classified state of the rural schools in sparsely settled 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. v ii 

districts. A one-room school, with from sixteen to 
thirty pupils of all ages and of all degrees of advance- 
ment under one teacher, might furnish forty different 
recitations or more in a day, of an average length of 
five minutes each. The teacher was practically reduced 
to setting a task for each pupil — a lesson to learn in his 
book. He was not able to test his pupils' understand- 
ing of the lesson in the brief recitation of five min- 
utes. He could only at best try their ability to repro- 
duce from memory the words of the book. It often 
happened that the exact words of the book were pre- 
ferred to clear ideas expressed in the pupil's own words. 

No complete remedy has ever been discovered for 
the evils of the ungraded school. It seems, after all, to 
be necessary in the rural school to set pupils at work 
on the printed page of the text-book and devise such 
methods as one can to insure the real understanding of 
the text ; the results will be poor enough at best. 

In the village and city schools, on the other hand, 
there will be increased numbers and the possibility of 
classification, and as a consequence more time for the 
recitation. The teacher can probe the pupil's mind and 
discover his strong and his weak habits of study, where 
his attention has flagged and where he has lost his way 
in the preparation of his lesson. By the discussion of 
the several points of the task, one after another, with 
the different pupils of the class, all its phases are brought 



viii EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

out, and each one acquires alertness and corrects his one- 
sidedness. He goes to the preparation of his next les- 
son with a much-increased power to understand it. 

Mr. Johonnot as educational reformer helped thou- 
sands of struggling teachers who had brought over the 
rural school methods into village school (or u union 
school") work. He made life worth living to them. 
His help, through the pages of this book, will aid 
other thousands in the same struggle to adopt the bet- 
ter methods that are possible in the graded school. 

His early advocacy of natural science in the curric- 
ulum of the elementary school contributed to improve 
the course of study by introducing the elements of 
natural history and natural philosophy (or physics) into 
the primary and grammar schools. This branch of 
study, taught in oral lessons, gives the pupil a glimpse 
into the great process going on in civilization by which 
Nature is conquered and rendered of service to man. 
It makes the instruction in arithmetic and geography 
far more interesting and profitable than it could be 
without scientific explanations and applications. Chil- 
dren taught the technique of the natural sciences be- 
come able to comprehend the constant allusions to sci- 
entific discovery found in the daily newspapers and in 
the books of the day, and by this they put themselves 
in the way of acquiring a fund of information regard- 
ing Nature and mechanic invention without effort. 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. \ x 

The elements of natural science can easily be taught, 
and, once learned, the child has, so to speak, learned 
the language of science and can have access at will to 
the storehouse in which all the discoveries are treasured. 
The object-lesson and the study of natural science 
have been and are the watchwords of reform in meth- 
ods of instruction — especially of reform in those meth- 
ods inherited from the rural school. The teacher who 
aspires to better his instruction will read this book 
with profit. 

W. T. Harris. 
Washington, D. C, August 25, 1896. 



PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION. 



An intimate acquaintance of forty years with, the 
author's thought lias enabled me to revise his work 
without changing its essential principles. In some few 
instances I have taken the liberty to restate his opinions 
in more modern phraseology, and to extend somewhat 
the field of their application. 

A brief sketch of the pioneer work in Manual 
Training has been added to show Mr. Johonnot's influ- 
ence and close connection with the earliest experiments 
in this country. The two men, Mr. Love and Mr. 
Eunkle, who were the first to actually introduce it, 
were life-long friends of Mr. Johonnot, with whom he 
often held counsel. 

In my revision I have also noted and emphasized 
two points made by Mr. Johonnot, which, though not 
new, had not before received adequate attention : First, 
the interdependence of the whole body of knowledge 
is progressively taught in every chapter of his book, 
and its co-ordination in the Course of Study is continu- 
ally kept in mind and insisted upon. In view of this 

unity of knowledge, the shallow complaint so often 

xi 



xii PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION. 

heard in " high places," that the schools teach too many 
subjects, is seen to be unworthy of notice. 

The second point I have noticed is the peculiar im- 
portance accorded by Mr. Johonnot to the word inci- 
dental. It appears constantly on the scene, now in 
connection with the training of the intellect, especially 
when he treats of language in its use, again in the field 
of taste, and notably in the domain of morals. He 
evidently distrusts the free use of dogma, and would in 
a large measure rely for the finer spiritual issues on the 
culture that " cometh not with observation." 

I wish further to state that "markings" and exami- 
nations played an insignificant part in his scheme of 
education. He early realized the many evils incident 
to stated examinations, and, besides, found them of no 
educational value. Having the courage of his opin- 
ions, as was his habit, he acted on this conviction, and 
dispensed with them altogether. 

In the controversy between Natural Science and 
Language he could not take part, since he fully appre- 
ciated the value of both. Between the two great 
classes into which the realm of knowledge is divided — 
Natural Science and The Humanities — he saw no cause 
for rivalry, and assigned to each a place in the Course 
of Study, under one form or another, throughout the 
whole school course. Naturally, he drew special atten- 
tion to such departments as had suffered most from 



PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION. xm * 

neglect, viz., Natural Science, Literature, Music, and 
the Manual Arts, but tie expressly and emphatically 
claimed fully half the time for The Humanities. True, 
he discarded the old methods, which fed the pupil on 
the mere dry bones of every subject, and substituted a 
nurture fruitful of spiritual growth. 

I need not call attention to the fact that Mr. Johon- 
not not only treated at length of the subject-matter of 
instruction ; he consistently advocated the " scientific 
method " as applicable to all branches of knowledge, 
to The Humanities as well as to Natural Science. He 
chose not to belittle a method as old as common sense 
by dubbing it either Pestalozzian or Baconian. 

Finally, I would call attention to the fact that Mr. 
Johonnot set up no claim to originality ; at the same 
time he was in no sense a " disciple." He did not pre- 
sume to call the principles he advocated new. Think- 
ers in ages long past had stated them, but the schools, 
public and private, and the colleges as well, had not only 
ignored them : they had nullified them. 

Sarah Evans Johonnot. 
September 1, 1896. 



PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 



Experience is beginning to show that teaching, like 
every other department of human thought and activity, 
must change with the changing conditions of society, 
or it will fall in the rear of civilization and become an 
obstacle to improvement. 

Teachers imbued with modern thought, in compar- 
ing the ideals which such thought suggests with the 
actual results of their efforts in the ordinary routine of 
instruction, have become dissatisfied; and intelligent 
outside observers have seen with great concern the con- 
tinual divergence of education from practical affairs. 

Efforts to remove these difficulties have usually been 
directed toward reforming the methods of presenting 
the ordinary topics, rather than toward a more radical 
change ; and hence there have grown up a great num- 
ber of empiric methods, which have found expression 
in manuals for teachers and in text-books. These have 
all contributed something to the solution of the prob- 
lem, and in the aggregate have been of great- value to 
education, especially in the primary grades. 

But the remedies have proved inadequate, and the 



XIV 



PREFACE. xv 

dissatisfaction remains, taking the form of a widespread 
feeling that, in some way, the schools are ont of joint 
with the times, and that the instruction which they 
afford is not the highest and best, either as a discipli- 
nary force, or as a preparation for the duties and occu- 
pations of life. This feeling gives rise to a demand 
that some means shall be devised by which education 
may profit by the results of modern science and phi- 
losophy, and once more take rank as a leading force in 
civilization. 

To meet this demand, the changes required are or- 
ganic and fundamental, and include the matter which 
shall be made the basis of instruction and the order of 
presenting the several subjects, as well as the methods 
to be pursued. 

In this volume, an endeavor has been made to exam- 
ine education from the standpoint of modern thought, 
and to contribute something to the solution of the prob- 
lems that are forcing themselves upon the attention of 
educators. To these ends, a concise statement of some 
well-settled principles of psychology has been made, 
and a connected view of the interdependence of the 
sciences given, to serve as a guide to methods of in- 
struction, and to determine the subject-matter best 
adapted to each stage of development. 

The systems of several of the great educational 

reformers have been analyzed, with a view to ascertain 

2 



xv j PREFACE. 

precisely what each has contributed to the science of 
teaching, and how far their ideas conform to psycho- 
logical laws ; and an endeavor has been made to com- 
bine the principles derived from both experience and 
philosophy into one coherent system. 

Several of the topics are examined from different 
points of view, involving a degree of repetition ; but in 
these cases the topics treated either relate to some er- 
roneous notions of education still practised and defend- 
ed, or the treatment is needed to fully illustrate the 
general topic under discussion. 

Fully aware of the difficulties of the work which 
he has undertaken, the author presents this volume to 
the public, in the hope that any shortcomings in the 
performance may be more than compensated by the 
thought which may be elicited in a renewed examina- 
tion and discussion of the subject. Seeking only what 
is true, he will be first to welcome criticism that shall 
point out errors of fact or of philosophy. 

Ithaca, N. Y., February 3, 1878. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. page 

General Objects of Education . . . . .1 

Knowledge as Belated to Success : Conditions of Successful Teaching — 
System, Symmetry, Harmony — Objects of Education— The Means of 
Education— Divisions of the Subject. Physical Education : Physical 
Development Twofold — Work and Exercise. Mental Education : 
The Process of Mental Education — Knowledge the Mind's Food— Char- 
acter and Knowledge — Modes of Exercise — Knowledge of Eights. 
Moral Education : Means of Moral Growth — Means of Moral 
Strength. General Summaet : Scientific View— Effect of Broader 
Views. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Mental Powers . . . . . .14 

Importance of Mental Science to Teachers : A Common Defect of 
Teachers— Scope of the Discussion. How Knowledge is Obtained : 
Ideas of Pressure- Ideas in Eegard to the Surface of Objects — Ideas in 
Eegard to Flavor— Ideas in Eegard to Odor— Ideas in Eegard to Sound 
— Ideas in Eegard to Light and Color— The Senses to be Cultivated — 
Sensation — Attention — Treatment of Attention — Perception— Nature of 
Percepts— Treatment of Perception. How Knowledge is Eetained : 
Arbitrary Memory — Suggestive Memory — Associative Memory — Like- 
nesses — Unlikenesses— Dependence — Abuse of Memory — The Eight 
Use of Memory — Perception and Memory — Eecollection. How 
Knowledge is Used : Imagination — The Depreciation of this Faculty 
— A Highly Practical Faculty— Dependence of Imagination — Treatment 
of Imagination — Eeason — Judgment. Mixed Mental Processes: 
Comparison— Conception. Order in Mental Development : Princi- 
ples Confirmed by Observation — Age an Important Consideration. 
Expression as Eelated to Mental Development : Position Illus- 
trated — The Twofold Office of Language— Importance of Cultivating 
Language. 

CHAPTER m. 

Objective Course of Instruction . . . . .40 

General View of Present Practices : "Wrong Practices — Examples — 
Eote-Learning— Nervous Action— Semi-Reflex Action— Studies too 
Difficult— Faults of Omission. Eace and Individual Growth : His- 
torical Kxamples. Objective or Inductive Method: Perception — 
Comparison- Grouping — Objective Classification— Generalization — Law, 
Principle, Definition— Examples — Benefits of the Objective Method — 
Spirit of Modern Science. 

CHAPTER TV". 
Subjective Course of Instruction . . . . .63 

The Subjective Method : Definition— Examples — Divisions of a Subject — 
Imperfect Divisions— Subjective Classification — Illustrations— Opposing 



xviii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Theories — Scientific View — Definition of Divisions — Subdivisions. 
Characteristics op the Subjective Course : Kelations to Develop- 
ment — Relations to Knowledge — Place in the Educational Course— Mis- 
use of the Subjective Method. The Objective and Subjective Courses 
Combined : The Two Courses as Related to Discovery and Application 
— The Two Courses as Related to the Teacher's Work — Errors of Re- 
versing the Two Courses. Corollaries : Sources of Primary Ideas — 
Training the Senses — Securing Attention — Cultivating Perception — 
Exercises in Memory — Advanced Instruction— Ideas and Words— Tha 
Steps of Instruction— Exercise— Completed Processes. 

CHAPTER V. 

Object-Teaching . . . . . . .72 

General View of the Subject : False Philosophy — Introduction of Ob- 
ject-Lessons — Practical Mistakes — Reaction against Object-Teaching— 
Real Nature of Object-Lessons. Value of Object-Lessons : Qualities 
of Objects— The Physical Sciences—" How not to do it"— Ideal Objects 
—Order in Thinking— The Ideal and the Real— Interest in Study— Veri- 
fication of a Law. Summary : Cautions to be Observed — Limits of Ob- 
ject-Teaching—Additional Caution— Conclusion. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Relative Value of the Different Branches of Instruction . 84 
The End of Education: Practical Questions— Responsibility for Change — 
Conditions of Change. Real and Apparent Knowledge: Relations 
of Language — Relations of Mathematics — Direct and Incidental Acquire- 
ment — Kinds of Knowledge Required— Branches of Real Knowledge. 
The Branches as Related to Development : Natural Science as Pro- 
moting Development — The Discipline of Memory — The Humanities as 
Promoting Development — Discipline of the Reflective K acuities — Gener- 
al Effect of Real Knowledge— The Discipline of Conduct. The Branches 
as Related to Uses: Uses of Natural Science -Natural Science and 
Industry — Ubiquity of the Elements of Natural Science — Uses of the 
Humanities -Conditions of their Successful Use. Special Studies ; 
Importance of History— Chronology — Philology — Archaeology— What is 
Gained. Foreign Languages : Elementary Study — Foreign Literature 
— Comparative Philology. The Ancient Languages: Advantages 
Claimed— Difficulties Encountered — Mental Discipline— Schiller's Opin- 
ion. Summary in Regard to Language. General Summary. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Pestalozzi . . . . . . . .105 

Schools of the Olden Time : Effect of Printing upon Education— Teach- 
ers Employed— Value of Learning to Read— Ideal Schools. Pestaloz- 
zf s Career : Philanthropic Views— The Ideal Reduced to Practice- 
Experiments at Neuhof— Condition of the Country — School at Stanz — 
Condition of the School — Things and Representatives — Intellectual Suc- 
cess—Moral Success — School at Burgdorf — School at Yverdon. Pesta- 
lozzi's Principles : Order in Mental Growth— Home Education — The 
Influence of Mothers — Mistakes in Application — Education of Mothers — 
Study of Children— Training Imbeciles— Basis of Experience— Object- - 
Teaching— Practical Objections— Conduct and Character— Growth of 
the System. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Froebel and the Kindergarten . . . . .119 

Fruit of Prstalozzi's Principles : Education through Work — Agricultu- 
ral Schools— Limitations of these Schools. I he Work of Froebel : 
Philanthropic Motives— Development of the Kindergarten — Obscurity 



CONTENTS. xix 

PAGE 

of Expression. Kindergarten Principles : Inherited Powers and 
Tendencies — Education should Commence Early — Education Based on 
Self- Activity — Spontaneous Activity, or Play — school Exercises should 
give Pleasure — Physical and Mental Activity combined — Harmonious 
Development of the Powers — The Schools demanded by these Princi- 
ples. Practical Kindergarten Work: The Kind of Play— The 
Method of Play — Original Work — Singing— Playing in the Dirt — The 
Law of Order— Study of the System. The Kindergarten at St. 
Louis : Necessity of Study and Experiment— Scope of Education — 
Scope of the Kindergarten — Delicate Adjustments — Philosophy Involved 
—Questions to be Settled. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Agassiz; and Science in its Relations to Teaching . .135 

The Scope and End of Science : Philosophy and Utility— Prof. Tyndall's 
Opinion — Another View — Prof. Huxley's Opinion — Antagonisms Har- 
monized—Incentive to Investigation. Methods of Science : Scientific 
Method in Teaching— Defects in Teaching which rcience Remedies— 
Waking up Mind — Growth of the Scientific Principle. Agassiz's 
Work : Early Life — Love of Nature — Vacation Studies — Study of the 
Glaciers— Spirit of his Work— The Old Methods Distrusted— Reforma- 
tion Begun— The School at Penikese— A New Era — Unfinished Plans. 
Summary of Agassiz's Principles : Training the Observing Powers — 
Importance of Hand- Work — Science the Basis of Education — Knowl- 
edge Necessary for Discipline — Authority in Science and Education — 
Thoroughness in Work and Study - Scientific Object-Lessons — Corrobo- 
rative Views — Uses of Hypotheses — Value of Hypotheses — Hypoth- 
eses in Education. 

CHAPTER X. 

Systems of Education Compared . . . . .157 

Introductory. Memorizing : Chinese Schools — The Monkish System — 
English Schools — Grounds of Defense— Securing Attention — Training 
the Memory — Judgment of Study — Cultivation of Language — Future 
Use. The Study of Books : Ideas of what Constitutes an Educated 
Man — r l he Worship of Books— Evils resulting from the Abuse of Books 
—The Place of Text-Books— The Necessity of Text-Books— The Proper 
Use of Text- Books —Increased Demand for Text-Books. The Study 
of Things : Cultivation of Perception— Basis of Experience— Materials 
of Thought. Experiment and Work : Technical Schools — Superiority 
of Educated Workmen— Work in the Kindergarten— The Next Step 
Demanded — Manual Training — Hand and Brain Culture. General 
Summary. 

CHAPTER XI. 
Physical .Culture . . . . . . .178 

Introductory : Opposing Theories — Factors of Physical Culture— Scope 
of Instruction— Preparation on the Part of Teachers. Food : Kinds of 
Food — Limitations — Quality of Food— Quantity of Food— Variety of 
Food— Caution to be Observed —Time for Taking Food — Manner of 
Taking Food — Miscellaneous Suggestions — Use of Drinks — Pernicious 
Drinks— Tobacco— Habits of the Teacher. Warmth: Clothing— Mate- 
rials for Clothing— Eelations of Clothing to Food— Changes of Tem- 
perature — Sanitary Suggestions — Houses — Necessary Considerations. 
Light : Direction of Light — Defective Sight. Air and Ventilation : 
Sources of Impure Air— Conditions to be Observed— Distribution of 
Heat— Egress of Air— Ventilating Arrangement— Method of Operation 
— Practical Suggestions. Direct Muscular Training : Calisthenics — 
Kinds of Exercise— Calisthenic Apparatus— Time given to Exercise- 
Caution to be Observed. Rest : Rest of Change — Rest of Attention — 
Complete Rest— Daily Rest or Sleep— Amount of Sleep — Rest from 
Weariness. 



XX CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. page 

^Esthetic Culture ....... 210 

Nature of .^Esthetics : Standard of Beauty— Buskin's Yiews— Experience 
Theory — Trailing - in Art. Form : Analysis of Form — Geometric Di- 
visions — Forms Used in Art — Nature the Basis of Art. Proportion : 
Proportion in Architecture — Element of Safety — General Ideas of Pro- 
portions — Ideas of Proportion Applied. Unity : Example in Nature — 
Unity in Art -Disregard of Unity -Aggregation not Unity. Symme- 
try : Symmetry in Nature— Symmetry in Art. Harmony : Harmony 
in Style — Harmony in Nature — Harmony in Art — Want of Harmony. 
Variety : Variety in Nature — Variety in Art — Monotony in Cities — 
Contrasted Examples. Color : Standard of Beauty in Color— Comple- 
mentary Colors — Variety in Color — Attention to Color. Sound : Origin 
of Musical Perception— ^Esthetic and Moral Value of Music — Tones in 
Speech — Unpleasant Tones. General Summary. ^Esthetic Teach- 
ing : The School-room — School Surroundings — Dress — Habits and Man- 
ners. Drawtjsg : Muscular Drill — Cultivating Observation— Perspec- 
tive and Shading — Use of Color— Industrial Art— Art Proper — National 
Art. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Moral Culture ....... 245 

Moral Aims : Neglect of Moral Instruction— Eeasons for the Neglect. 
Wiiat is Morality? Basis of Morals. Extent of Needs— Equality of 
Needs — Basis of Eights— Basis of Duty — Negative and Positive Duties 
— Standard of Moral Duty — Concrete Examples^- Factors of Morality — 
Individual Morality. Moral Instruction in School : Force of Ex- 
ample — Manners — Example of 111 Manners— Limit of Eesponsibility — 
Moral Sensibility— Incidental Moral Lessons — Negative Eesults — Labor 
and Service — Caution — Eecognition of Well-doing. School Govern- 
ment : Obstructive Considerations — Changes Desirable— Bestraint— 
Indirect Moral Influences— Dangers of Neglect. Direct Moral 
Teaching : Precept and Practice — Use of Common Incidents— Use of 
Literature- Abuse of Literature— Use of History— Defects in Historic 
Study — Moral Science. Social Eelations : The Family— General So- 
ciety — Civil Government — Practical Morality — Applications in Schools — 
Eesults of Moral Training. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
General Course op Study ...... 280 

Preliminary : Principles taken as a Basis — The Natural Sciences — Course 
in Science— Philosophy, or the Humanities — Literature —Geography — 
History— Mental and Moral Philosophy— Four Subordinate Lines of 
Instruction — Music — Manual Arts — Language — Mathematics— Course 
in Music — Course in Language— Course in Manual Arts— Course in 
Mathematics — Cultivation of Taste. 

CHAPTER XY. 

Country Schools and their Organization .... 298 
Comparative Standing: Advantages — Defects — Imperfect Grading— 
Boards of Control — School-houses — Apparatus and Books -Short 
Terms— Change of Teachers. Qualification of Teachers : Scientific 
Knowledge — General Culture — The Mental Powers — Professional 
Knowledge -Self- Improvement. Details of Work : The Alphabet— 
Eeading — Spelling— Object-Lessons— Eural Affairs. 

APPENDIX. 
The Story of a School ...... 315 



PRINCIPLES AND 
PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 



CHAPTEE I. 

GENERAL OBJECTS OF EDUCATION. 

Knowledge as Related to Success. — " The secret 
of thrift," says the late Charles Kingsley, " is knowl- 
edge. The more you know, the more yon can save 
yourself and that which belongs to you, and can do 
more work with less effort. A knowledge of the laws 
of commercial credit, we all know, saves capital, ena- 
bling a less capital to do the work of a greater. Knowl- 
edge of the electric telegraph saves time ; knowledge of 
writing saves human speech and locomotion ; knowledge 
of domestic economy saves income ; knowledge of sani- 
tary laws saves health and life ; knowledge of the laws 
of the intellect saves wear and tear of brain ; and knowl- 
edge of the laws of the spirit — what does it not save ? " 
The need of special knowledge for all the various trades 
and professions has long been admitted, but practically 
the farmer and the teacher have been like the poet — 
Heaven-taught. We are finally coming to see that the 

(l) 



2 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

teacher, too, must be specially trained for his profes- 
sion. 

Conditions of Successful Teaching. — Before a 
teacher can set about his professional work intelligently 
and with assurance of success, he must not only under- 
stand its technical details, but he should also have a 
broad and comprehensive knowledge of the general ob- 
jects of education, and of the means by which these 
objects are to be accomplished. 

To many, the word education has no definite mean- 
ing ; and to others it only implies an acquaintance with 
certain stereotyped branches commonly taught in our 
schools. In our day the science of teaching finds its 
basis in psychology. The laws of mind have been 
studied and formulated sufficiently to furnish general 
guidance to the intelligent teacher. The psychologists, 
through their minute and careful study of the child- 
mind, have discovered and applied the laws which 
should govern the training of children. Every teacher 
should by some means gain a thorough knowledge of 
these laws, and should be trained in their application 
under the guidance of professional instructors. 

The mind, in its development, is like a plant which 
grows from a seed to its full stature. The way in 
which the growth of a plant results from bringing the 
germ of the seed into contact with the appropriate sub- 
stance in which it is planted, is illustrative of the pro- 
cess by which the inherent powers of the mind are 
brought into contact with material outside of the mind 
— thus producing growth : but growth, as we shall see, 
under the laws and limitations of the mental organism 
itself. 



GENERAL OBJECTS OF EDUCATION. 3 

System, Symmetry, Harmony. — This illustration 
may be still further applied. The growth of a plant 
proceeds systematically, symmetrically, and harmoni- 
ously. Stem, bud, leaf, flower, and fruit, come precise- 
ly in the succession necessary to accomplish the highest 
object of the plant. Supplied with appropriate food 
and culture, the progress of the plant ,will be distin- 
guished by symmetry and harmony in the development 
of its different organs. An excessive forcing of stem or 
leaf will unavoidably result in a limitation of flower and 
fruit. These organs, therefore, develop in due propor- 
tion, and without interference with each other, and, as a 
natural consequence, avoid loss or waste of force. The 
harmonious development of the child must follow a 
similar law or method. The needs of the growing 
child change as time goes on. These needs must be 
appropriately supplied in their due order, else instruc- 
tion retards development. 

Object of Education. — The object of education, 
then, is to promote the normal growth of a human being, 
developing all his powers systematically and symmetri- 
cally, so as to give the greatest possible capability in 
thought and action. These powers must be trained to 
act harmoniously, so that there need be no waste of 
effort in any direction. 

The Means of Education are such agencies as will 
promote the objects set forth. These means are proper 
where they contribute to the desired result; they are 
adequate when they accomplish the result. 

All educational means should be measured by this 
standard of excellence, and they should be adopted or 
rejected accordingly as they bear this test. 



4 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Division of the Subject. — Education, in the broad 
sense, naturally divides itself into physical, intellectual, 
and moral. The first relates to the development of the 
body ; the second, to the development of the intellectual 
faculties; and the third, to the development of the 
emotional nature, moral and aesthetic. 

Physical Education has for its objects the growth 
and nurture of the body, and the attainment of bodily 
strength and skill. Upon the accomplishment of these 
objects the entire welfare of the human being depends. 
Without proper bodily growth and nurture, it is impos- 
sible to achieve either mental or moral excellence. 

Physical Development Twofold.— Bodily develop- 
ment is twofold, consisting of physical growth and phys- 
ical strength. In thought these two can be separated, 
but in practice they are always associated. "While 
growth and strength go on together, each increment 
or step of growth must precede an increment or step of 
strength. 

Physical growth depends primarily on a supply of 
suitable food, and subordinately upon those other ma- 
terial agencies necessary to the preservation of human 
life. Besides these external conditions, food must be 
properly digested and assimilated, or converted into 
bodily tissue. These conditions fulfilled, the body 
grows, and is nurtured after growth is attained — food 
being an indispensable agent, and the principal one in 
promoting the growth. 

Work and Exercise. — The means used to promote 
bodily strength — the second object of physical educa- 
tion — are work and exercise. While food in some 



GENERAL OBJECTS OF EDUCATION. 5 

measure produces strength, its chief object is to pro- 
mote growth. And while exercise in some degree pro- 
duces growth, its chief object is to promote strength 
and skill. Both food and exercise are indispensable to 
physical development and physical well-being. 

Physical well-being, however, is only one of the 
aims attained through physical training. The psycho- 
logical value of expression through muscular action is 
not yet generally comprehended, though Pestalozzi, 
Yon Fellenberg, and Froebel, each in his own way, 
sought to embody this principle iu school methods. 

Mental Education. — In intellectual as in physical 
education, the two objects to be attained are intellectual 
growth and intellectual strength : the growth of all the 
faculties of the mind to their full maturity, and the 
possession of all the strength possible in each indi- 
vidual. 

The Process of Mental Education. — Though the 
nature of the mind's action is peculiar, the process of 
its development is analogous to the process of physical 
development. Food properly appropriated is the means 
by which the growth of the body is secured. In like 
manner the mind grows by what it feeds upon, and the 
natural aliment that produces mental growth is knowl- 
edge. 

Knoioledge the Mind's Food. — The term knowledge 
is here used in its comprehensive sense, as embracing 
not only the subjective cognition, or act of knowing, 
but the things, facts, truths, or material about which 
this act is employed in bringing the individual into the 
practical relations of life. As food is indispensable to 



6 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OP TEACHING. 

physical growth, so without knowledge the mind cannot 
grow. While the mind, from the first, possesses all the 
germs of mental power, it is the appropriation of knowl- 
edge alone that converts its latent and apparently pas- 
sive capacities into active capabilities. 

In accordance with a theory of education fast be- 
coming obsolete, undue value has been ascribed to cer- 
tain branches of study, notably arithmetic and grammar, 
as specially valuable for mental discipline. The teacher 
will observe that this theory and the methods based 
upon it are wholly discarded in the present work. 

The Character of Knowledge Important. — The 
great problem of education has been to adjust the 
course of study in the manner best adapted to nurture 
the mind in its various stages of growth, and so to pre- 
sent each subject that the mind can assimilate it with 
the least waste of effort. Or, to state the problem in 
another form : " What course of study, and what meth- 
ods of teaching the same, will best fit the pupil for 
right living ? " Some writers would " darken counsel " 
by claiming that a course of study dictated by psychol- 
ogy would be quite other than that required to fit the 
pupil for practical life. Such writers are behind their 
age, and need not detain our attention. 

It will be shown hereafter that the course of study 
which most effectively moulds the pupil into sym- 
pathetic cooperation with his environment is precisely 
the course prescribed by the laws of mental action, as 
seen in the growing child. 

In his work on moral science, President Hopkins, 
of Williams, says : " Knowledge is the food of the 
mind. And as food may overload and enfeeble the 



GENERAL OBJECTS OF EDUCATION. 7 

body, and is to be received only as there is a capacity 
of digestion and assimilation, and ultimate reference to 
action, so knowledge may overload and enfeeble the 
mind, and should be received only as it can be reflected 
on and arranged, and so incorporated into our mental 
being as to give us power for action." 

While knowledge in general contributes to mental 
growth, and while there may be room for choice in re- 
gard to the kind of knowledge best adapted to indi- 
vidual development, one specific kind is indispensable, 
and that is, a knowledge of the conditions of physical 
well-being. Obedience to physical laws is also a ne- 
cessity to mental and moral well-being. This knowl- 
edge, so momentous to life and everything which makes 
life worth preserving, includes the careful and sys- 
tematic observation of all the facts bearing upon the 
subject; the inferences and laws to be derived from 
these facts ; and the application of laws, through 
wisely-directed means, to the maintenance of health. 

Intellectual strength or power — the second object 
of intellectual education — is best promoted by exercise. 
"While knowledge in some measure produces strength, 
its chief object is to promote the growth and nurture 
of the mind ; and while exercise to some extent pro- 
duces growth, its chief object is to give intellectual 
strength. The two — knowledge and exercise — are 
both indispensable to mental development and well- 
being. 

It should not for a moment be supposed that any 
scheme for the promotion of a true education can be 
devised that does not involve intellectual work. The 
improvement of methods of instruction, the perfecting 



8 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

of illustrative apparatus, and all the valuable helps of 
the best schools, conspire only to avoid misdirection 
and waste, and to increase intellectual effort, but noth- 
ing can supersede the necessity of work as the source of 
strength. 

The Modes of Exercise^ conducive to strength and 
best adapted to school- work, are the arrangement of 
knowledge in logical order, so as to lead to the percep- 
tion of laws and principles ; the expression of knowl- 
edge ; and the use of knowledge in directly serving the 
great purposes of life. 

These modes of exercise take their practical form in 
the arrangement of all the facts gained from the study 
of each branch of instruction in some kind of definite 
order. The incidents of a journey are arranged in the 
order of sequence ; the events of history in the order 
of time ; and the facts of physical phenomena in the 
order of causation. The successive topics treated in 
arithmetic, geography, and the like, are arranged in ac- 
cordance with relations peculiar to each branch respec- 
tively — the arrangement resulting in classification. The 
knowledge so arranged then finds expression in such 
language as can be best understood. 

The effort of the mind to arrange knowledge, and 
the subsequent effort to express it clearly, are among 
the best possible school-exercises for the promotion of 
intellectual strength. The result of these efforts, when 
rightly directed, is to put knowledge in the best form 
for that practical use which still further increases the 
intellectual life. 

Knowledge and Practice of Rights. — One other spe- 
cific kind of knowledge seems to be indispensable to 



GENERAL OBJECTS OF EDUCATION. 9 

full intellectual development. In consequence of our 
needs, we have certain rights which are inherent and 
inalienable. Every human being, before he can arrive 
at a full mental stature, must not only have a knowl- 
edge of these rights, but he must be placed in full pos- 
session of them. If his rights are surrendered on the 
one hand, or infringed on the other, his capabilities 
are lessened, and he is intellectually both smaller and 
weaker than he otherwise would have been. This con- 
sideration shows the connection between intellectual 
and moral education. 

Moral Education considers the relations which ex- 
ist between the individual and other human beings, and 
the conduct proper to observe in consequence of those 
relations. Analogous to the divisions of physical and 
mental education, moral education consists first of moral 
growth, and secondly of moral strength. As the moral 
nature is complex, the agencies that promote moral 
growth and strength are also complex and require care- 
ful analysis. 

Means of Moral Growth. — These are, first, the un- 
conscious affection which reciprocates the love of par- 
ents ; secondly, the sympathy which either springs from 
personal experience or is awakened by art in some form ; 
thirdly, the example of parents and instructors ; and, 
fourthly, the investigation of human relations, and 
the development of the laws which govern such rela- 
tions. 

The Means of Moral Strength consist mainly in the 
application of the moral laws which have been devel- 
oped, to all cases of conduct. The power of self -con- 



10 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

trol, of subordinating selfish propensities, and of the 
systematic performance of duty, come from practice 
alone ; and this power needs to receive distinct encour- 
agement through the whole period of school-life, so 
that, finally, moral strength may be gained. 

The principles of moral development, and the gen- 
eral plan for the introduction of moral exercises into 
our schools, are given in the chapter on " Moral Educa- 
tion." 

General Summary. — This general survey of the 
educational field gives us an enlarged view of the na- 
ture and scope of education, and it enables us to express 
these enlarged ideas in the form of a definition. Edu- 
cation has for its objects the development and training 
of all the powers and faculties of a human being com- 
pletely and harmoniously ; the furnishing of the mind 
with knowledge of the most worth in the performance 
of duties ; the subjection of all the powers to the con- 
trol of intelligent and beneficent motive ; and the forma- 
tion of the habit of yielding instant obedience to physi- 
cal and spiritual laws. 

Scientific View. — In a paper upon " A Liberal Edu- 
cation," Prof. Huxley summarizes his ideas of the char- 
acter of an education which is demanded by the science 
and culture of the times. He says : " The question of 
compulsory education is settled so far as Nature is con- 
cerned. Her bill on that question was framed and 
passed long ago. But like all compulsory legislation, 
that of Nature is harsh and wasteful in its operation. 
Ignorance is visited as sharply as wilful disobedience ; 
incapacity meets the same punishment as crime. Na- 



GENERAL OBJECTS OF EDUCATION. ] 1 

ture's discipline is not even a word and a blow, and the 
blow first ; bnt the blow without the word. It is left 
to you to find out why your ears are boxed. 

" The object of what we commonly call education 
— that education in which man intervenes, and which I 
shall distinguish as artificial education — is to make good 
these defects in Nature's methods ; to prepare the child 
to receive Nature's education neither incapably, nor 
ignorantly, nor with wilful disobedience ; and to under- 
stand the preliminary symptoms of her displeasure with- 
out waiting for the box on the ear. In short, all artifi- 
cial education ought to be an anticipation of natural 
education. And a liberal education is an artificial edu- 
cation, which has not only prepared a man to escape 
the great evils of disobedience to natural laws, but has 
trained him to appreciate and to seize upon the re- 
wards, which Nature scatters with as free a hand as her 
penalties. 

" That man, I think, has had a liberal education 
who has been so trained in youth that his body is the 
ready servant of his will, and does with ease and pleas- 
ure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of ; 
whose intellect is a clear, cold logic-engine, with all its 
parts of equal strength, and in smooth working order ; 
ready, like a steam-engine, to be turned to any kind of 
work, and spin the gossamers as well as forge the an- 
chors of the mind ; whose mind is stored with a knowl- 
edge of the great and fundamental truths of Nature, 
and of the laws of her operations ; one who, no stunted 
ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose passions are 
trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the servant 
of a tender conscience ; who has learned to love all 
3 



12 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

beauty, whether of Nature or art, to hate all vileness, 
and to respect others as himself. 

" Such an one and no other, I conceive, has had a 
liberal education ; for he is, as completely as a man can 
be, in harmony with Nature. He will make the best 
of her, and she of him. They will get on together 
rarely, she as his ever-beneficent mother, he as her 
mouth-piece, her conscious self, her minister and inter- 
preter." 

This view of education shows that the instruction 
prevalent in our schools usually falls far below educa- 
tional demands. It shows also that teachers frequently 
take narrow and limited views of their work, and so 
fail in accomplishing the highest attainable good. 

Effects of Broader Views. — With these enlarged 
views in regard to the nature of their work, teachers 
will pay particular attention to everything that pertains 
to the physical comfort of their pupils ; and they will 
carefully investigate the laws of physical existence for 
guidance in the proper care and training of the body. 
They will make their pupils intelligent in regard to the 
food they eat, the dress they wear, and every condition 
which affects their physical welfare. 

In mental work they will arrange a course of study 
in exact accordance with the needs of each stage of 
mental development ; and they will present the knowl- 
edge embraced in such a course in the way which sci- 
ence points out. They will not be contented with em- 
piric processes and meagre results. They will be guided 
by rational and intelligent principles rather than by 
mere precedent or authority, and in all their work they 
will conform to the laws of mental development, ob- 



GENERAL OBJECTS OF EDUCATION. , 13 

tained from a study of mind itself. They will seek to 
give their pupils greater power to do work in every 
vocation to which they may afterward be called. 

In morals, teachers will aim to have their pupils 
measure and regulate their own conduct toward others 
by the standard of human welfare so clearly expressed 
in the Golden Rule, and to make them intelligent in 
regard to all human relations. They will so order their 
work and their own conduct as to stimulate the pupil to 
devote his life to beneficent use, and to the attainment 
of that crowning excellence of all education — nobility 
of character. 

The subsequent chapters of this work are devoted 
to a development of the principles which underlie this 
broad education, and to a consideration of the means by 
which it may be attained. 

A brief resume of the principles of mental philoso- 
phy which underlie this subject will first be given, care 
being taken to avoid metaphysical discussions on the 
one hand, and an obscure technical phraseology on the 
other. These principles furnish a key to all problems 
in educational work as they arise, whether in regard to 
subject-matter or methods. Later, the principles thus 
developed receive additional illustration, and are ap- 
plied to the details of teaching. The systems of several 
of the great educational reformers are also carefully 
examined, and their principles are compared with those 
derived from the study of mind, as the basis of an in- 
telligent appreciation of their merits and criticisms of 
their faults. 



CHAPTEE II. 

THE MENTAL POWERS. 

Impoetance of Mental Science to Teaching. — All 
intelligent teaching must be based upon principles de- 
rived from a consideration of the powers or faculties of 
the mind ; their modes of action ; the order of their 
development ; and the means by which their activity is 
awakened. Moral, and even physical education, de- 
pends largely upon laws which can be known only 
through an acquaintance with the operations of the 
mind. Indeed, so completely does this science constitute 
the ultimate basis upon which all trustworthy investiga- 
tion where human action is concerned must rest, that it 
has been called the " Queen of the Sciences." 

A Common Defect of Teachers. — Notwithstanding 
the fact that the philosophy of the mind is the basis of 
all other sciences which' involve human action, the com- 
mon fault of teachers is an almost entire ignorance of 
the application of mental facts to the work of teaching. 
In the class-room and in the institute, the constant effort 
is to ascertain what specific and mechanical methods 
have proved successful by experiment, rather than to 
settle by fixed laws what methods must be successful. 

The real object of instruction is too often ignored. 
(14) 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 15 

The question of primary interest seems to be "How 
to teach the different branches," instead of "How to 
develop and train the faculties of the child by the use 
of these branches." The natural consequence of this 
superficial view is, that teaching is too often a mere imi- 
tative art, of doubtful and varying success. Without a 
careful and reflective acquaintance with the constitution 
of the child's mind, the work of the teacher, with his 
geographies, arithmetics, and grammars, is scarcely less 
absurd than the performance of a difficult operation in 
surgery by one who knows all about ligatures, knives, 
and saws, but understands nothing of human anatomy. 

Scope of the Present Discussion. — It is not proposed 
here to give a treatise upon intellectual philosophy, but 
only such a consideration of mental phenomena as is 
indispensable to an intelligent understanding of the 
teacher's work. It has already been shown that knowl- 
edge in some form is the aliment upon which the mind 
feeds, and is necessary in all of the processes of educa- 
tion. "We now propose to show the specific relations of 
knowledge to mind, and the manner in which the dif- 
ferent intellectual powers are aroused into activity. In 
the treatment of this subject the language of appearance 
or of ordinary life will be employed, instead of the strict 
phraseology of the sciences. 

How Knowledge is Obtained. — The mind in some 
way becomes possessed of knowledge from the outward 
world, or from objects. To arrive at the possession of 
this knowledge, three conditions are necessary : The ob- 
ject respecting which the knowledge is gained ; the 
mind to receive this knowledge ; and some organism to 



16 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

serve as a means of communication between the mind 
and the object. In point of fact, we find that the dif- 
ferent ideas derived from objects come through different 
organs specially adapted to their respective purposes. 

Ideas of Pressure, and of the weight of objects, are 
conveyed to the mind by the nerves distributed through 
the muscles. While nearly all of the muscles of the 
body are more or less sensitive to pressure, ideas of com- 
parative weight are obtained mainly through the mus- 
cles of the arm. The ability of the mind to receive the 
ideas of pressure and weight is called the muscular 
sense j and the nerves and muscles through which these 
impressions are made are the organs of the muscular 
sense. 

Ideas in Regard to the Surface of Objects, such as 
rough and smooth, hard and soft, are brought to the 
mind by the nerves distributed through the skin. These 
nerves are most sensitive in the ends of the fingers. 
The same nerves within narrow limits convey ideas of 
comparative temperature. Excessive heat and exces- 
sive cold will destroy the nerves so that the impressions 
made are nearly identical. With the hand in motion, 
these nerves give rise to ideas of extension and change 
of direction, from which are derived ideas of size and 
form. The capability of the mind to receive these im- 
pressions of surface is called touch — the fingers being 
the principal organs of touch. 

Ideas in Regard to the Flavor of Objects, such as 
sweet, salt, and bitter, are awakened in the mind by the 
nerves distributed over the surface of the tongue, and 
the contiguous parts of the mouth. The surface of 
bodies only can occasion ideas of flavor, and this sur' 



THE MENTAL POWERS. J 7 

face, at the moment of imparting the impression to the 
nerves, must be dissolved, or in a liquid state. The ca- 
pacity of the mind to receive ideas of flavor is called 
taste, and the tongue and palate are the organs of taste. 

Ideas in Regard to the Odor of Objects, such as 
musk, rose, or pink, are brought to the mind by the 
nerves distributed through the cavities of the nose. 
The impressions which give rise to these ideas of odor 
are made by an ethereal emanation from an object rather 
than by the object itself. The capacity of the mind to 
entertain ideas of odor is called smell, the nose being 
the organ of smell. 

Ideas in Regard to Sound, such as thunder, musical 
notes, and speech, are occasioned in the mind by the 
nerves that ramify through the organism of the internal 
ear. Sound is neither an object nor an emanation from 
an object, but is caused by a vibration of the air striking 
the tympanum of the ear, and this vibration is caused 
by the motion or vibration of an object. Differences 
in the rapidity of the vibrations give rise to differences 
in the pitch of sounds. The power of the mind to re- 
ceive ideas of sound is called hearing. The ear is the 
organ of hearing. 

Ideas in Regard to Light and Color, such as red, 
yellow, and blue, are conveyed to the brain by the mech- 
anism of the eye, and by the nerves passing through 
the interior of the eye. Light is now generally consid- 
ered to be the vibrations of an exceedingly attenuated 
ether which fills the whole interstellar spaces, striking 
against the structure of the eye. 

These vibrations are, in turn, set in motion by the 
vibrations of a luminous object. The difference in the 



18 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

rapidity of these vibrations gives rise to the ideas of the 
different colors. By differences in intensity of light ; by 
the distribution of color ; by the impressions of exten- 
sion gained from touch, and by the experience gained 
from motion, we get corrected ideas of distance, size, and 
form. The capacity of the mind to receive ideas of 
light is called seeing, or sight. The eye is the organ of 
sight. 

The Senses. — These six methods by which the mind 
gets possession of knowledge respecting the outward 
world are called the senses. It will be seen that each 
sense has its separate function, and that one sense cannot 
perform the office of another sense. 

It has been a question much discussed, whether the 
organs of one sense can be made to perforin the func- 
tions of another. For example, can the blind be made 
to apprehend light and color? and can the deaf ever 
understand the nature of sound ? It is a well-known 
fact, that the touch of a blind man can be made so sen- 
sitive that he can readily distinguish the differences of 
color in different kinds of cloth. This sensitiveness, 
however, appears to enable him to distinguish differ- 
ences in the surface of the fabric which could not be 
detected by ordinary touch, while it does not convey to 
him any definite idea of color in the sense in which it 
is presented to the eye. So of sound. The deaf man 
may be sensitive to the vibrations of the air, but he can 
have no adequate idea of the nature of sound as it comes 
to the ear. 

By the loss of one sense the other senses become 
more acute, but probably the exact functions of one are 
never performed by another. 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 19 

The Senses to he Cultivated. — As the senses are the 
only means by which primary knowledge of objects can 
be obtained, the well-being of every individual demands 
that the different organs of sense should be so cared for 
as to be in a healthy and sensitive condition ; and the 
senses themselves should be trained to do their work 
with precision and skill. 

For example : the notes in music, the modulations 
of the human voice in regard to pitch, quantity, and 
quality, the modifications of tone which constitute 
speech, and the peculiarities of speech which express 
the different emotions and passions, must all be ad- 
dressed to the ear ; and that these differences in sound 
may be fully understood, the ear must receive special 
training. It is impossible to present these ideas to the 
mind through the eye, or through any of the other or- 
gans of sense. 

Ideas in regard to color and form must be addressed 
to the eye. A verbal description of an object which 
has not been seen will give a very vague idea of the re- 
ality unless the eye has been trained to accurate obser- 
vation, and has seen something similar to the thing de- 
scribed. 

In the study of geography, a large proportion of the 
descriptive part is worse than useless from the neglect 
of the early training of the eye. The words of the de- 
scription, failing to take hold of the experience of the 
pupil, find no response in the understanding, and the 
exercise becomes one of words only. To train the eye 
to an appreciation of natural scenery, architecture, and 
the like, when accessible real objects are exhausted, 
recourse may be had to pictures which address them- 



20 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

selves to the eye, and by means of which knowledge 
may be indefinitely extended. 

Mistakes to he Avoided. — In school, the mistake is 
often made of endeavoring to convey to the mind ideas 
belonging to one sense through another. Ideas of form 
come through the sight and touch alone, and yet many 
times an effort is made to have pupils comprehend form 
by mere verbal description addressed to the ear. By 
an adult, with a well-trained mind, stocked with images 
derived from experience, such descriptions may be un- 
derstood, because he is able to translate the language of 
one sense into that of another ; but to a child, who has 
had little experience, the description becomes a mere 
verbal formula, conveying no idea except that of sound. 

Sensation. — The impression which an object makes 
upon the organ of sense is called sensation. In every 
sensation three things are necessary : an object, an or- 
gan of sense, and vitality or life. For example : in see- 
ing, there must be an object to form an image, an eye 
upon which the image may be formed, and life, so that 
the image may be transferred to the nervous centres and 
to the mind. 

The eye of an ox may be taken, and the posterior 
part of the sclerotic coat removed ; then, by placing it 
in an aperture in a darkened room, so that the light 
from outside will fall upon it as in life, the observer in 
the room can see upon the retina a picture of all the 
objects within the visual angle from the aperture where 
the eye is placed. This image is the mechanical part 
of sensation, and life only is needed to convert it into 
sensation proper. 

Attention. — When a sensation is carried by the 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 



21 



nerve to the brain, the mind may be so engaged in other 
matters as not to perceive it, and hence the sensation 
does not become a possession of the mind ; or it may 
be noticed while the mind is in a passive state, or par- 
tially engaged in other matters ; or it may be received 
while the mind is in a state of activity, and eagerly 
seeking it. The attitude of the mind toward sensations 
in receiving them is called attention. 

Nature of Attention. — Attention is thus seen to be 
of a twofold character, active and passive, or, as named 
by Sir William Hamilton, primary and secondary. 
Both of these degrees of attention may be exercised 
simultaneously. When specially and actively directed 
to sensations possessing the greatest interest, the atten- 
tion is primary ; while to the subordinate sensations re- 
ceived at the same time, the attention is secondary. 

Examples. — The mind may be so intent upon the ob- 
servation of an outward object, upon an occupation in 
which the hands are engaged, or upon a subject of re- 
flection, that the impressions which are not a part of 
the subject of contemplation are entirely unnoticed. 
Household objects, natural scenery, pictures, music, 
conversation, the roar of the waterfall, and the rush of 
the locomotive, all make their impression upon the 
nerves of sense, and these impressions are conveyed to 
the nervous centres ; but upon the absorbed and occu- 
pied mind they make no impression, and, as far as 
mental consciousness is concerned, they are simply non- 
existent. In this case the principal sensation receives 
the entire attention, and the subordinate sensations re- 
ceive none. 

Again, the mind may be engaged in examining the 



22 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

qualities of an object, in the ordinary vocations of the 
day, or in the examination of a principle in science or 
philosophy, and at the same time it may be conscious 
that the wind blows, the rain falls, the tire burns, and 
of many other things of like character. In this case the 
principal sensation becomes a possession of the mind 
through primary attention, and the subordinate sensa- 
tions through secondary attention. 

The attitude of the mind in listening to conversation, 
to a speech, lecture, or sermon, affords another illustra- 
tion in point. The mind of the listener is intent upon 
the subject discussed ; but it often happens that, besides 
the thought, he is conscious of peculiarities of tone, de- 
fects in articulation, and inaccuracies in construction, 
on the part of the speaker, and of conversation carried 
on by members of the audience. Here the primary 
and secondary attention are both busy in receiving and 
recording impressions. 

In this matter a caution is to be observed on the 
part of both the speaker and the listener. Where the 
peculiarities and inaccuracies of the speaker are of so 
pronounced a character as to compel the attention of 
the listener to them instead of to the thought, the eifect 
of the speech is lost, and the time spent in its delivery 
is wasted. Hence the form and manner of the speech 
should receive equal care with that bestowed upon the 
thought. 

On the other hand, where the power of verbal criti- 
cism is developed in advance of the ability to receive 
and assimilate thought, the listener will occupy himself 
in the form and words of the address, while the thought 
passes unnoticed. The primary attention is fixed on 



TEE MENTAL POWERS. 23 

language ; and this habit once formed, the mind busies 
itself upon petty subjects and details, and becomes in- 
capable of receiving the thought which the language is 
designed to convey. 

Attention to he Trained. — As no sensation can be 
received by the mind without attention, it will be seen 
that habits of systematic attention are among the most 
fundamental needs of education. Not only should these 
habits of attention be cultivated, but the mind should 
be trained to change passive into active attention at will. 

Treatment of Attention. — In class-recitation, the at- 
tention of the pupils must be secured, or the lesson is a 
failure. The first requisite in securing attention is to 
have every pupil assume a proper attitude : erect, easy, 
and with eyes fixed on the teacher. Everything that is 
within reach of the hand, and that is calculated to di- 
vert attention, should be put aside. Lounging, and a 
listless attitude and manner, should not be permitted. 

Should the members of the class generally be inter- 
ested in something foreign to the lesson, like a game in 
which they have been engaged, a story that has just 
been told, or an interesting piece of news, the teacher 
should seek to turn their thoughts in a new channel by 
some anecdote or pleasantry, which will gradually lead 
to the work on hand. 

To Keep the Attention, when once secured, the teacher 
must thoroughly understand the subject ; must know 
how to adapt his instruction to the condition of the pu- 
pil ; and he must be able to present the subject in such 
an interesting manner, that the mind will be constantly 
stimulated to reach out for new ideas. The new ideas 
presented must be related to those which the pupil al- 



24 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ready possesses, and not so far in advance but that these 
relations may be readily discovered. 

Perception. — The act of the mind in becoming fully 
conscious of a sensation after attention is secured is 
called perception, and the sensation itself is called a 
percept. 

Nature of Percepts. — The percept may be single 
and unrelated, arousing no action in the mind beyond 
the mere sensation received, and, when used by the 
mind, reflected back as received ; or it may be complex 
and related, leading to comparisons and inferences, and 
becoming an element of intelligence. 

Examples. — One class of nursery rhymes consists 
merely of jingle without sense. When heard, they are 
received as unrelated percepts, and are given back in 
the same manner as received. " Intra mintra cutra 
corn " conveys no idea to the mind save that of sound. 
All formulas of words, the meaning of which is not 
understood, are of the same kind, and are received by 
the mind and reflected back, without arousing further 
mental action, or becoming elements of real intelli- 
gence. 

Observations of objects and of phenomena, and 
language that contains thought which is understood, are 
complex percepts, stimulating mental activity, and en- 
tering into mental processes. 

Reception of Knowledge. — The act of perception 
completes the process of obtaining ideas from the out- 
ward world, and transforms the qualities and relations 
of objects impressed upon the senses into intelligence, 
which contributes directly to mental growth. 

The group of activities necessary to the various 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 25 

stages of obtaining knowledge from objects, including 
sensation, attention, and perception, are called the per- 
ceptive or receptive power of the mind. 

Treatment of Perception. — As through perception 
alone does the mind receive impressions of the world 
outside of itself, and as the facts derived from percep- 
tion are the materials upon which the mind feeds, and 
by which the higher powers are brought into activity, 
the importance of perceptive training of the most thor- 
ough kind is at once manifest. The habitual neglect of 
this training in schools is one of the principal sources 
of their weakness, and is one point to which efforts at 
reform, at this time, should be principally directed. 
The details of perceptive processes, and the agencies to 
be used, are treated more fully in the chapter upon 
" Object-Teaching." 

How Knowledge is Retained. — The mind has the 
power not only of obtaining knowledge, but of storing 
it for use by a process which is known by the general 
name of memory. That memory may perform its func- 
tions without failure, it is necessary that an idea should 
be forcibly impressed upon the mind at once, or that it 
should be repeated a sufficient number of times to 
make a deep impression. 

Arbitrary Memory. — A single unrelated perception 
of ordinary force makes but a faint impression upon the 
mind, and one that is easily obliterated. Each of a 
series of unrelated perceptions makes its own impression 
without deepening that of another. The effort to retain 
such perceptions must be complete in each instance, 
success in one case affording no aid in another. The 



26 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

power of retaining single or unrelated perception is 
known as arbitrary memory. 

Suggestive Memory. — Two or more dissimilar per- 
ceptions may be made upon the mind, nearly or quite 
simultaneously, connected by time, place, circumstance, 
or sequence. These connected perceptions make a 
stronger impression than either would separately, and 
they are laid away together. The effort to retain the 
series is no greater than to retain a single one, and the 
connection is such that the one always suggests the 
other. This form or degree of retaining bears the name 
of suggestive memory or suggestion. 

Associative Memory. — The impression made by a 
single perception is deepened by another following in 
the same channel ; and when many perceptions are made 
to follow each other, the impression is deep and lasting. 
The relations which bind perceptions closely together 
are likenesses, unlikenesses, and dependence. 

Likenesses. — Perceptions of the same kind appear 
to pass through the mind in the same channels, arousing 
the same kind of mental activity. In this manner ob- 
jects having the same qualities are connected in the 
mind. Honey and sugar are connected by the common 
quality of sweetness ; bleached cloth and snow by white- 
ness ; the roar of the cataract and thunder by loudness ; 
and anger and tempest by fierce commotion. When the 
likeness of a new perception to an old one is clearly 
seen, the two are at once associated and are stored to- 
gether. The effort necessary to retain the new is di- 
minished as the likeness to the old is comprehended, and 
the two are made to pass through the same channel. 

Unlikenesses. — Perceptions of one kind arouse in the 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 27 

mind ideas of an opposite character, and contrasted ideas 
become associated, deepening the impression of each. 
Ideas of sweet suggest ideas of sour ; black, of white ; 
large, of small ; rough, of smooth ; high, of low ; rapid, of 
slow. These ideas of opposites are stored together, and 
the one suggests the other. When the one is retained, 
the effort to retain the other is inconsiderable, and con- 
trast or unlikeness becomes an important element in de- 
veloping the retaining power. 

Dependence. — One idea is seen to depend upon 
another ; and by a recognition of this dependence, the 
ideas pass through the same channel, each deepening 
the impression of the other. Fire is seen to depend 
upon fuel ; the light of the day upon the sun ; breath- 
ing upon air ; the warmth of the body upon clothing ; 
harvest upon seed-time. Ideas linked by dependence 
are stored together in the mind, the one suggesting the 
other. When the relation of dependence is once seen, 
the effort necessary to retain is greatly diminished. 

This mode of retaining by relations, or this degree of 
the retaining power of the mind, is called associative 
memory or association. 

As the amount of knowledge retained by association 
increases, the effort necessary to retain new ideas of the 
same character decreases, and the mind is relieved of the 
special effort necessary to every act of arbitrary memory. 

Abuse of Memory. — It is claimed, for many studies 
that are shown to be intrinsically worthless, that they 
are excellent for developing and strengthening memory. 
From the above considerations it may be inferred that 
those studies which are the best for supplying the mind 
with knowledge are the best for strengthening the 



28 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

memory. In many school-exercises there is an effort 
made to have the pupil retain knowledge by the use of 
arbitrary memory alone. This is exemplified in the or- 
dinary method of teaching the alphabet. In this exer- 
cise the attention is directed to arbitrary characters which 
have no possible relation to anything ever before seen. 

The facts of geography and history are sometimes 
taught in the same manner, by an appeal to arbitrary 
memory alone. The result is that the facts, isolated in 
thought, make very little impression upon the mind, and 
are quickly forgotten. A lesson learned in this manner 
may be retained a sufficient time for recitation ; but as 
it consists of disconnected facts, it exhausts the mind in 
its effort to retain, and leaves no substance of mental 
growth. 

Memorizing the words of a text-book affords another 
illustration of waste of power in this direction. The at- 
tention is fixed primarily upon the words, and the idea 
may or may not be understood. With no thread of 
thought connecting them with any other knowledge, 
the ideas must be retained, if retained at all, by arbitrary 
memory, resulting in mental exhaustion, and little or no 
permanent good. 

The Right Use of Memory. — In all school-exercises 
in which the lesson of to-day has some relation to the 
one of yesterday, and these relations are pointed out 
and understood, they become sources of association, re- 
lieving the mind from the strain which each effort of 
arbitrary memory imposes. The idea is first under- 
stood, and then it is associated with the word that ex- 
presses it. The two are then linked to other expressed 
ideas of a similar character in a chain, so that they are 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 29 

not only remembered, but they are always in the proper 
order for use. 

Macaulay, in his review of the life of Bacon, says : 
" He acknowledged that the memory may be disciplined 
to such a point as to be able to perform very extraor- 
dinary feats. But on such feats he sets little value. 
The habits of his mind, he tells us, are such that he 
is not disposed to rate highly an accomplishment, how- 
ever rare, that is of no particular use to mankind. As to 
these prodigious achievements of the memory, he ranks 
them with the exhibitions of rope-dancers and tumblers. 
' The two performances,' he says, ' are much of the same 
sort : the one is an abuse of the powers of the body, the 
other is an abuse of the powers of the mind. Both may, 
perhaps, excite our wonder, but neither is entitled to our 
respect.' " 

Perception and Memory. — From the foregoing dis- 
cussion it will be seen that distinct perceptions depend 
upon the acuteness of the senses, the distinctness of 
impressions made upon them, and upon the degree of 
attention which the mind gives to the sensations made. 
Memory demands all these conditions with the addi- 
tional one of connected perceptions ; and it is thus seen 
that the course of training best calculated to develop 
the perceptive powers is the best for the training of the 
memory. Exercises for the express purpose of strength- 
ening the memory are not only unnecessary, but ob- 
structive in the processes of education. 

Recollection. — The mind has power to recall past 
perceptions that have been preserved by memory, and 
to bring them up for review or other use. This power 
of the mind is called recollection. The various degrees 



30 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

of memory and recollections are known by the general 
name of the retentive power of the mind. 

How Knowledge is Used. — The knowledge received 
from the outward world through the perceptive powers, 
and stored by the retentive powers, becomes the basis 
for the action of the mind independently of the objects 
from which the knowledge was derived. 

Imagination. — The perceptions derived from ob- 
jects come to the mind in a certain order and in a cer- 
tain combination, and are therefore associated in this 
order and combination. The mind has the power to 
sever the links by which these ideas are connected in 
their first presentation, and to rearrange them and link 
them into new combinations. The elements nsed in 
this process are all derived from perception, but the 
combination may be something entirely unlike anything 
ever perceived, and essentially a new creation. This 
rearranging or creative power of the mind is called 
imagination. 

The Depreciation of this Facility. — Many teachers 
in their practice seem to regard imagination as an en- 
tirely unnecessary appendage. They look upon it as a 
mere fancy, adapted to ornamental rather than useful 
purposes. As a general fact in schools, the culture of 
the imagination is systematically neglected, and in con- 
sequence one great human power remains uncultivated 
and unused. 

The sentiment has also gained wide popularity that, 
while a cultivated imagination may be of use to the 
painter and poet, it would be a positive hinderance in 
the performance of the sterner duties of life. No mis- 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 31 

take could be more fatal to a true education than to 
carry this sentiment into common practice. 

A Highly Practical Faculty. — Imagination is the 
faculty of the mind which more than any other enables 
man to master the forces of Nature, and raise himself 
above the domain of sense. By its operation and that 
of reason combined, the investigator is enabled to achieve 
the highest results in science and philosophy. By means 
of it the poet builds the verse which becomes a monu- 
ment of immortal beauty, and the inventor creates a 
machine which ameliorates the condition of the whole 
human family. It is the moving force in every step of 
human progress, by constructing ideals which are higher 
and better than any that have yet been realized. It is 
equally the moving force by which each individual is 
able to reach upward to a higher state of truth, good- 
ness, or beauty. It is a faculty that needs the most 
thorough cultivation in every human being, without re- 
gard to his condition or vocation in life. 

Dependence of Imagination. — As the imagination 
must make use of materials furnished by perception, it 
is readily seen that perception comes first in order, and 
that the value of imaginative results must largely de- 
pend upon the breadth of perception. Without the 
training of the perceptive powers, and the storing of 
the mind with perceptive ideas, there is danger that the 
imagination will exceed its ordinary functions, and create 
facts, as well as combine real facts into new images. 

President Porter says : " The imagination is capable 
of steady growth, and requires constant cultivation. 
The creative imagination, when most gifted, can at first 
only rise to a certain height above the materials which 



32 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

experience gives. Its succeeding essays are founded 
upon those which have been made before ; and it pro- 
ceeds by successive steps, more or less long and high, 
till it attains the most consummate achievements that 
are ever reached by man." 

Treatment of Imagination. — In the culture of the 
imagination two points are to be considered : first, that 
the power be aroused to action ; and second, that its ac- 
tion be placed in proper check and control. The first 
object is gained when the teacher understands the na- 
ture of imagination, and is able to provide exercises 
that will oblige the pupils to make new combinations. 
The second object can be gained only by a course of 
instruction that will provide objective study in sufficient 
variety and extent to fully employ the inquiring activity 
of the mind, and leave no deficiency in perception to 
be made up by imagination ; and that will so train the 
higher powers of the mind, that imagination will always 
be directed to productive results. The processes of cul- 
ture for the imagination are more fully described in 
succeeding chapters. 

Reason. — The mind has power to perceive relations 
which exist between different objects and processes of 
thought. It sees the truth common in a complex series 
of terms, and perceives the sequences of events and of 
natural occurrences. It traces effect to cause and cause 
to effect. From relations found in a few instances, it 
infers general laws, and it subjects its inferences to tests 
which verify the law. It applies laws in new instances, 
and brings all the laws of mind and matter into one 
coherent system. It directs imagination in its rearrange- 
ments so as to accomplish definite results. The power 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 33 

of the mind to enter upon these processes, and to ac- 
complish these results, is called reason. 

Definite instruction in regard to reasoning processes 
will be found in the chapters upon " Objective and Sub- 
jective Teaching." 

Judgment. — In addition to the faculties already 
enumerated, the mind has power to decide in regard to 
any matter brought before it. This decision may have 
reference to mere perception, or it may involve the 
most complex processes of imagination and reasoning. 
In the former case the process is simple, but in the lat- 
ter it becomes the highest function of which the mind 
is capable. This power of the mind, when applied to 
the various uses which reason has devised, points out 
the best, and also the best which is available, under all 
the circumstances of the case. It finally disposes of all 
matters brought before the mind, and from its decisions 
there is no appeal. This power of the mind is called 
judgment. 

Other Use of the Term. — Some authors prefer to con- 
sider the power of deciding, or of judgment, a part of 
each of the faculties with which it is associated, rather 
than a distinct faculty of the mind. For example, the 
judgment in regard to two perceptions is simply a neces- 
sary part of the completed perceptions ; and the judg- 
ment in regard to two processes of thought is a neces- 
sary part of the completed reasoning. So far as the 
practical application to the science of teaching is con- 
cerned, it is entirely unimportant which of these views 
is taken. The only relevant questions are : Has the 
mind the power of deciding % and, When is the power 
exercised \ 



34 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Comprehensive Term. — The several activities by 
which the mind uses knowledge, apart from the objects 
in regard to which snch knowledge is gained, inclnding 
imagination, reason, and judgment, are known as the 
reflective powers of the mind. 

Mixed Mental Processes. — Besides the mental 
powers for gaining, retaining, and using knowledge, 
which have just been considered, there are various men- 
tal processes, involving two or more of these powers, to 
which special attention should be given. In some in- 
stances these processes are so important and elementary 
that they are frequently denominated faculties of the 
mind, and are so classified in mental analysis. In na- 
ture and function, however, they are generally consid- 
ered as mixed or complex mental processes. 

Comparison. — The power of the mind to distinguish 
likenesses and unlikenesses, either in objects or in pro- 
cesses of thought, is called comparison. When two 
objects are compared, both of which can be observed at 
once, the process seems to involve perception directed 
to two things instead of one, and a judgment in regard 
to the qualities observed. When one or both of the 
objects cannot be observed at the time, memory is 
brought into activity as an auxiliary. When comparison 
is directed to processes of thought, all the powers of the 
mind, including perception, memory, imagination, rea- 
son, and judgment, may be required. 

Conception. — The power of the mind to form a pict- 
ure of past perceptions or ideal combinations is called 
conception, and the picture is called a concept. A con- 
ception of past ideas is merely a vivid recollection. A 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 35 

conception of ideal scenes, or combinations of ideas, de- 
mands the exercise of memory to recall the elements out 
of which the combination is formed, and an effort of 
imagination to arrange these elements so as to produce 
the picture. A conception of objects described, but 
which have never been perceived, involves perception 
of familiar objects, memory of the ideas perceived, im- 
agination to rearrange the familiar ideas, and reason to 
make the new combination conform to the description 
given. 

Order of Mental Development. — The order of 
the development of the mind may be determined by 
considering the relations of knowledge to the mind, and 
by the study of the phenomena of mind in its gradual 
change from infancy to maturity. 

In regard to the relations of knowledge to mind, it 
will be seen, from the foregoing presentations, that 
knowledge must be obtained before it can be retained, 
and that it must be both obtained and retained before 
it can be used. 

In obtaining knowledge of objects, sensations must 
be experienced before attention can be given, and both 
sensation and attention must precede perception. 

In retaining knowledge, the successive steps must 
follow the corresponding steps of perception. First a 
single sensation is impressed upon the memory, then 
groups of sensations, and at a later period the principle 
of association obtains. 

The higher forms of association become possible 
only when the mind is comparatively well furnished 
with facts. 



36 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Arranged according to the character of the knowl- 
edge upon which they are exercised, the respective func- 
tions of the imagination, reason, and judgment seem to 
follow each other in the order in which they have been 
presented. 

These Principles Confirmed by Observation. — By 
a careful study of the gradual growth of mind from in- 
fancy to maturity, it is found that the mental activities 
at each stage of growth exactly correspond to the prin- 
ciples of development evolved from a study of the rela- 
tions of knowledge to mind. 

In childhood the senses and the observing powers 
are keen and active, and the mind eagerly takes in and 
retains impressions from the outward world. During 
this period, mental activity is chiefly directed to the per- 
ception of the qualities of objects and their simple rela- 
tions. 

As the mind grows, the interest gradually changes 
from these qualities and simple relations to the more 
obscure and complex relations of objects. Finally it 
rises to the relations of thought, until at maturity the 
reflective powers are not only most active, but th«y 
guide and control the entire action of the mind. 

Age an Important Consideration. — In furnishing 
the mind with its appropriate knowledge, the particular 
period of life through which the individual is passing 
is to be considered as no less important than the stage 
of mental development at which he has arrived. Per- 
ceptive studies, or those that appeal directly to the 
senses, are best adapted to childhood, because they alone 
satisfy the mental power most active at the time, and 
furnish the materials upon which the higher mental 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 37 

powers exercise themselves at a later period : studies, 
on the contrary, that appeal chiefly to the reasoning 
faculties, have no place in the primary school, but be- 
long to the advanced course of study. At a period near 
maturity, or at middle age, the mind is usually more 
interested in reflective than in perceptive processes ; and 
if the perceptive period has passed without its legiti- 
mate work, the mind is poorly supplied with the ma- 
terials of thought, and the reflective powers, operating 
upon narrow and insufficient grounds, reach no just or 
valuable conclusions. 

Expression as Related to Mental Development. 
— The activities of the mind are so intimately associated 
with language that it is scarcely possible to consider 
the two as separate. All ideas and thoughts have their 
representatives in words and sentences, and some phi- 
losophers have contended that it is impossible to think 
without thinking in language. 

Without adopting this extreme view, however, we 
see that in all mental operations language acts an im- 
portant part. ~No sooner does a new idea present itself, 
than the mind at once seeks for a word to express it. 
Should no suitable word be found, the idea is expressed 
by a combination of words, or by a word coined for the 
occasion. The mental act of receiving ideas and pre- 
paring them for use is not complete until they are not 
only fully possessed by the mind but fitly expressed in 
words. 

This Position Illustrated. — In his work on Logic, Sir 
"William Hamilton says : " A country may be overrun by 
an armed host, but it is only conquered by the establish- 



38 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ment of fortresses. Words are the fortresses of thought. 
They enable us to realize our dominion over what we 
have already overrun in thought ; to make every intel- 
lectual conquest the basis of operations for others still 
beyond. Or another illustration : You have all heard 
of the process of tunneling through a sand-bank. In 
this operation it is impossible to succeed unless every 
foot — nay, almost every inch — in our progress be secured 
by an arch of masonry, before we attempt the excava- 
tion of another. Now language is to the mind precisely 
what the arch is to the tunnel. The power of thinking 
and the power of excavation are not dependent on the 
word in the one case or the mason-work in the other ; 
but without these subsidiaries, neither process could 
be carried on beyond its rudimentary commencement. 
Though, therefore, we allow that every movement for- 
ward in language must be determined by an antecedent 
movement forward in thought ; still, unless thought be 
accompanied, at each point of its evolution, by a corre- 
sponding evolution of language, its further development 
is arrested." 

The Twofold Office of Language. — The advance of 
ideas and of language, then, must go on together. Lan- 
guage is used for the double purpose of expressing and 
of preserving knowledge. Should ideas fail of finding 
expression, they are imperfectly preserved or entirely 
lost. Should expression be sought in advance of ideas, 
the words uttered would be senseless as the chatterings 
of a parrot. In each step of progress the idea precedes 
the expression, but should be immediately followed by the 
word. The two henceforth become so blended that they 
cannot be separated in practice, and scarcely so in thought. 



THE MENTAL POWERS. 39 

The importance of cultivating language along with 
thought, in teaching, even to the extent of carrying this 
twofold training into every branch of instruction, can- 
not be too strongly urged. At least half of the time of 
recitation should be given to expression, so that the 
pupil may have the advantage of language in both mas- 
tering and remembering the thought. "When this 
method is habitually practised, language is usually ac- 
quired by secondary attention, while primary attention 
is fixed on the thought. Perspicuity of expression fol- 
lows clearness of thinking, and mistakes in expression 
usually result from want of clearness in the thought. 
The most effectual method of correcting such mistakes 
is by discussing the thought until it is clearly understood, 
and then requiring it to be expressed again. By fol- 
lowing this plan of criticism, in practical instruction, 
much onerous labor is saved the teacher, and many of 
the distinctive exercises in language of maturer years 
are rendered unnecessary. 

It must also be borne in mind that words are not 
the only means of expression. Mathematical symbols 
are used as language to express certain forms of thought. 
Drawing and painting are both but a means of expres- 
sion. Laboratory work and manual work of various 
kinds must be employed both in acquiring knowledge 
and in putting it to use. In all school-work the teach- 
er must make sure that the " mental circuit " is com- 
plete. The pupil must be held to the subject in hand 
till he can give it adequate expression in some form. 



CHAPTER III. 

OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION'. 

General View of Present Practices. — Until with- 
in a comparatively recent period, little attention has 
been given to the principles which must govern every 
intelligent effort to impart instruction. Teachers have 
been content to follow the methods in which they them- 
selves were tanght, until the process of teaching has 
become a merely mechanical routine. 

Preliminary to the examination of philosophical 
methods of teaching, we shall notice some of the prac- 
tices — they can scarcely be called methods — which are 
always to be avoided. 

Wrong Practices. — The great, consjDicuous, evil 
practice in our schools, once almost universal, and still 
widely prevalent, is that of obliging pupils to commit 
to memory the words of the text-book. This practice 
seems to have its origin either in the ignorance or the 
indolence of the teacher, and is one calculated directly 
to stultify, rather than expand, the mind. It fixes the 
primary attention on words rather than on thoughts, 
which words are arranged to express. The words mem- 
orized to-day are forgotten to-morrow, and often the 

(40) 



OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 41 

thought is never obtained. This process, by substitut- 
ing apparent for real knowledge, so far consumes the 
time of the pupil that the attainment of real knowledge 
is rendered nearly or quite impossible during the school 
period. 

Exam/pies of this Practice. — Pupils are frequently 
obliged to recite, verbatim, the outlines of history, and 
teachers often defend the practice of rote-teaching in 
this study after they have given it up in the other 
branches of instruction. Upon examining a class in- 
structed in this manner, in one of the most noted schools 
in the country, a few years since, it was found that the 
pupils could glibly repeat the lesson of to-day ; that they 
could recite about half of that of yesterday ; but that 
they could not remember one word of the lesson of a 
week ago. "While this was the fact in regard to the 
words of the lesson, it was found that the thoughts 
which the words were supposed to represent had been 
entirely neglected — no one in the class having any 
knowledge of the sequence or relations of events. 

A little girl of eleven years came home late one day, 
and, on inquiry, said she was detained because she could 
not recite her lesson in geography. As she had forgot- 
ten but one word, however, she soon learned it, com- 
pleted the lesson, and was dismissed. When asked what 
the word was, she could not tell, although she came 
fresh from her recitation only across the street. Upon 
examination, the following was found to be the sentence 
which made the difficulty, and which she and the other 
members of the class were obliged to repeat : " The 
Danubian provinces of Servia, Moldavia, and Walla- 
chia are nominally independent of the Sublime Porte." 



42 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Further investigation proved that the teacher had made 
no effort to explain the meaning of any one of the 
terms used, that no maps were employed in the recita- 
tion, and that the members of the class were as pro- 
foundly ignorant of the subject they were supposed to 
be learning as though it had been written in Choctaw. 

Rote-Learning. — The memorizing of definitions, 
principles, and rules in science, before the facts upon 
which they are based are known, is equally repugnant 
to the well-settled principles of mental development. 

Herbert Spencer says : " The once universal prac- 
tice of learning by rote is daily falling more into dis- 
credit. All modern authorities condemn the old me- 
chanical way of teaching the alphabet. The rote-system, 
like other systems of its age, made more of the forms 
and symbols than of the things symbolized. To repeat 
the words correctly was everything, to understand the 
meaning nothing ; and thus the spirit was sacrificed to 
the letter. It is at length perceived that, in this case as 
in others, such a result is not accidental but necessary ; 
that in proportion as there is attention to the signs, 
there must be inattention to the things signified." 

Nervous Action. — Dr. Carpenter, in his "Mental 
Physiology," clearly shows the manner in which im- 
pressions upon the nerves are received and treated. 
The nervous centres consist of the cerebrum or anterior 
brain, the principal nervous mass, and of the subordinate 
centres, the sensorium or base of the brain, the spinal 
cord, and the ganglions. Impressions made upon the 
nerves, and carried to the cerebrum, become a possession 
of the mind and are transmuted into intelligence ; those 
carried to the spinal cord or ganglions produce reflex 



OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 43 

or automatic actions which do not involve intelligence ; 
and those carried to the sensorinm and no farther, pro- 
duce a semi-reflex action in which there are only faint 
traces of intelligence. Impressions made upon the sen- 
sorium are reflected back in the same manner as re- 
ceived, as when words or formulas are repeated when 
not understood. 

Semi-Reflex Action. — The following quotation from 
a late article in the London Times reviewing the work 
of Dr. Carpenter further illustrates this principle, and 
shows its application directly to the work of teaching. 

" There are probably few teachers who have not 
heard something about the possibility of ' learning by 
rote,' which is one form of mere sensorial activity in 
which certain sounds have become associated with the 
sight of certain written or printed symbols, and are ut- 
tered when these symbols are seen and remembered ; but 
there probably is not one in a thousand who understands 
what ' learning by rote ' is ; how it is accomplished by 
the nervous centres ; how it differs from learning with 
the intelligence ; and how it may be detected and ex- 
posed under whatever guise it may be concealed. 

"The great majority of teachers think that they 
have banished learning by rote when their pupils are 
able to explain their first answer to a question by a 
second one ; the second, in most cases, being as purely 
sensorial a symbol as the first, and the original sight 
symbol, with its two vocal equivalents, being really, as 
far as ideation is concerned, an unknown quantity, for 
which either of the two other unknown quantities may 
be substituted. 

" One of the most familiar illustrations of sensorial 
5 



44 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

action is that which was recorded by the late Mr. Brook- 
field, in which two children, aged about eleven years, 
who did their arithmetic and reading tolerably well, 
who wrote something pretty legible, intelligible, and 
sensible about an omnibus, and about a steamboat, were 
called upon to write the answers of the Church Cate- 
chism to two questions. The children had been accus- 
tomed to repeat the Catechism during half an hour each 
day in day-school and Sunday-school, for four or five 
years, and this is what they wrote : 

" ' My duty toads God is to bleed in him to f earin 
and to loaf withold your arts withold my mine withold 
my sold and with my sernth to whirchp and to give 
thanks to put my old trast in him to call upon him to 
onner his old name and his world and to save him truly 
all the days of my life's end.' 

" ' My dooty tords my nabers to love him as thyself 
to do to all men as I wed thou shall do and to me to 
love onner and suke my farther and mother to onner 
and to bay the queen and all that one pet in a forty un- 
der her to smit myself to all my goones teaches spiritial 
pastures and marsters to oughten mysilf lordly and 
every to all my betters to hut no body by would nor deed 
to be treu in jest in all my deelins to beer no malis nor 
ated in your arts to kep my ands from peckin and steel 
my turn from evil speak and la wing and slanders not to 
civet or desar othermans good but to learn labour trewly 
to get my own leaving and to do my doody in that state 
if life and to each it his please God to call men.' 

" It will be observed that these written answers, if 
recited with sufficient rapidity, in the customary school- 
room patter, really bear a horrible likeness to the sounds 



OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 45 

of the genuine one ; and there can be but little doubt 
that the writers and their classmates had so recited 
them for years, to the entire satisfaction of all who were 
' pet in a forty ' over them. 

" Even in Mr. Brookfield's report, from which the 
examples are taken, there is no evidence of any percep- 
tion that they represent a nervous action which, as a 
result of teaching, is wholly wrong in kind, and not 
only in degree, and which, so far as it is permitted to 
continue, is not merely an expression of waste of time, 
but of the growth of habits, directly antagonistic to, and 
incompatible with, those which it should be the chief 
object of instruction to encourage. 

" Until this is recognized and acted upon, and until 
teachers have some knowledge of the profound differ- 
ence between the two kinds of action as modes of men- 
tal operation, it is hopeless to expect from schools an 
amount of cultivation of the intelligence at all commen- 
surate with the magnitude and costliness of the ma- 
chinery which is employed." 

Studies too Difficult. — Another habit, which is very 
prevalent and which is almost as pernicious, is that of 
assigning to pupils studies too difficult for their compre- 
hension. Without really understanding a single prin- 
ciple of the subject taught, they career along, occasion- 
ally catching a gleam of knowledge, but falling far short 
of what might be accomplished in the same length of 
time by rightly-directed efforts. 

Examples. — The prevalent method of teaching men- 
tal arithmetic to small children is a case in point. Be- 
cause mental arithmetic has been proved to be a most 
excellent discipline for the mind at the proper time, it 



46 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

therefore seems to be assumed that it will be of great 
value at all times. Hence it has been extensively in- 
troduced into primary schools. By the study of it 
young pupils have been obliged to go through reason- 
ing processes which would severely tax the mental pow- 
ers of adults, and this, too, before their reasoning facul- 
ties were developed sufficiently to readily understand 
the subject. The result has been that frequently pupils 
have learned the formulas by which the examples are 
analyzed, just as they would learn any other form of 
words, while the real reasoning contained in the process 
was never understood. 

In grammar the same mistake is often made. 
Through the erroneous notion that a knowledge of Eng- 
lish grammar ensures correct speaking and writing, text- 
books in grammar are put into the hands of young chil- 
dren, and their minds are crammed with definitions and 
rules concerning the philosophic structure of language, 
and this before their mental powers are so far developed 
as to comprehend the principles which are sought to be 
given. The matter memorized, having failed to reach 
the understanding, becomes a hinderance rather than a 
help to education. 

In reading-classes the same fault obtains. Pupils 
are permitted, through the ambition or weakness of their 
teacher, to read in books entirely above their compre- 
hension ; and the result is, that they fail to obtain any 
knowledge from their reading, while the delivery, as 
a necessary consequence, becomes expressionless and 
monotonous. 

Faults of Omission. — The next great fault is a de- 
fect or omission rather than a positive evil. The pri- 



OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 47 

mary exercises for training the observing powers are 
neglected to such, an extent that, as far as the schools 
are concerned, pupils might almost as well be born deaf 
and blind. The objects with which they come daily in 
contact, the phenomena which constantly appear before 
their eyes, the facts of Nature and of consciousness upon 
which all science and philosophy are based, are nearly, 
if not entirely, neglected. At the same time the studies 
pursued have little connection with matters of common 
interest, and, as a consequence, fail of bestowing that 
practical knowledge and breadth of culture necessary to 
the highest success. 

Examples. — Generally, in schools, very little if any 
attention is given to the open book of Nature, which 
contains lessons of such transcendent importance and 
interest. One series of the lessons thus neglected is 
the peculiar stratification, marking, and fossils of the 
rocks, each of which is a key to a history more profound 
than that recorded in any human chronology. Another 
similarly neglected series is found in the wonderful va- 
riety of plants, each one an object of beauty, and all to- 
gether, in their manner of growth, in their distribution, 
and in their peculiar habits, furnishing lessons which 
cannot fail to leave their impress of mental growth, and 
to become sources of never-ending delight while life 
and sense last. The curious and strange forms of ani- 
mal life, the metamorphoses of insects from creeping 
worms to gorgeous butterflies, the peculiar habits of 
beasts and birds, and the instincts which so nearly ap- 
proach reasoning, are all replete with these interesting 
lessons, and they are usually so neglected that the mind 
fails of comprehending the evidences of intelligence 



48 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

found in the infinite variety and profound laws of the 
universe. 

Carlyle says : " For many years it has been one of 
my most constant regrets that no schoolmaster of mine 
had a knowledge of natural history, so far, at least, as 
to have taught me the grasses that grow by the wayside, 
and the little winged and wingless neighbors that are 
continually meeting me with a salutation which I can- 
not answer, as things are. Why did not somebody teach 
me the constellations, too, and make me at home in the 
starry heavens which are always overhead, and which I 
don't half know to this day % I love to prophesy that 
the time will come when the schoolmaster will be strictly 
required to possess these two capabilities, and that no 
ingenious little denizen of this universe be thencefor- 
ward debarred from his right of liberty in these two 
departments, and doomed to look on them, as if across 
grated fences, all his life." 

Race and Individual Growth. — The study of his- 
tory shows that the progress of the race, when the whole 
human family is taken into consideration, has been a 
continuous growth or change in a definite direction, and 
according to certain established principles in the evolu- 
tion of mind. Commencing at a period when physical 
Nature tyrannized over man, the change has been con- 
tinuously in the direction, first, of subduing Nature, then 
of quickening and refining the senses; after this, of 
exalting the reason above the senses, and of converting 
meagre notions into definite, connected, and well-defined 
thought. 

By a careful study of mental development, we find 



OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 49 

that the individual passes through changes analogous to 
the changes that affect the race. In infancy there is the 
same helplessness in regard to Nature, the same blunt- 
ness of the perception, the same subordination of the 
reason to the senses, and the same vagueness of ideas 
and thought. From infancy to maturity, the progress 
is continuous toward making Nature a servant rather 
than a master, of making thought systematic and defi- 
nite, and of rendering each step in intelligence a help 
toward the attainment of higher intelligence. 

Historical Examples. — In the history of the Israel- 
is, as given in the Old Testament Scriptures, we may 
see the development of a people from a very low con- 
dition of slavery and ignorance to a point of intellectual 
strength and refinement made remarkable by their dis- 
tinguished prophets, poets, and teachers. When we 
compare the character of the people just liberated from 
Egyptian bondage with their mental and moral condi- 
tion at the time of the birth of Jesus, the contrast is very 
striking. The educational means used in the work of 
this development (we have here nothing to do with the 
spiritual cultus of the Jews) is equally worthy of note. 
At first, the stupid and sensuous mind could be aroused 
and instructed only by addressing the senses. Gradually 
the tyranny of sense yields to the higher power of an 
unfolding imagination, and finally the old system of 
symbol and song passes away, and the reason of this 
people is addressed by the statement of principles and 
the analysis of mental facts. Yet, even in this new 
system of education, the Great Teacher is careful not to 
violate the laws of mental growth. To the untutored 
pupils whom He gathered about Him, He said : " I have 



50 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them 
now." 

An equally remarkable development is illustrated in 
the history of the English nation, which, with its settled 
principles of government, its reflective literature, its 
art, and philosophy, springs from an uncouth Anglo- 
Saxon origin. The advancement of a nation may be 
judged from the progress of its literature ; for the liter- 
ature of a people indicates, at each period, the steps 
of its psychical development. The beginnings of a na- 
tion's literature may be traced to an attempt to record 
the simplest facts of observation and sense, or the com- 
bination of these facts into rude imaginative creations. 
Hence legend, story, poetry, and the drama, always pre- 
cede systematic history, dialectics, or philosophy. In 
the history of every enlightened nation, the presenta- 
tion of fact and the representation of picture in answer 
to the question " What ? " have always taken precedence 
of the explanation of facts or the analysis of principles 
in answer to the question " Why ? " The age of Homer 
comes before the ages of Thales, Pythagoras, and Aris- 
totle. The primitive literature of Kome appears in the 
form of minstrelsy. The literature of England passes 
through the simple poems and tales of Piers Plough- 
man, Mandeville, and Chaucer, before it reaches the 
stern philosophy of Bacon, or the ripe fruit of the lit- 
erature of the Elizabethan age. 

So also in regard to the development of government. 
The blind struggle of centuries brought at last the 
Great Charter ; but defined principles of government 
were of much later date. Upon this point Macaulay 
says : " It is only in a refined and speculative age that 



OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 51 

a polity is constructed on system. In rude societies the 
progress of government resembles the progress of lan- 
guage and of versification. Eude societies have lan- 
guage, and often copious and energetic language ; but 
they have no scientific grammar, no definitions of nouns 
and verbs, no names for declensions, moods, tenses, 
voices. Rude societies have versification, and often 
versification of great power and sweetness ; but they 
have no metrical canons ; and the minstrel, whose num- 
bers, regulated solely by his ear, are the delight of 
his audience, would himself be unable to say of how 
many dactyls" and trochees each of his lines consists. 
As eloquence exists before syntax and song before pros- 
ody, so government may exist in a high degree of ex- 
cellence before the limits of legislative, executive, and 
judicial power have been traced with precision." 

From the study of the development of the race we 
obtain a knowledge of those general principles which 
control the development of the individual ; and con- 
versely, the careful examination of individual growth 
will serve to throw light on obscure points in the his- 
torical development of the race. The knowledge gained 
from this twofold examination of individual and race 
development has scarcely yet been organized into a sci- 
ence ; but enough is now understood to be of the great- 
est service to the teacher in preparing his course of 
study and in determining the methods to be pursued. 

Objective or Inductive Method. — The first step, in 
mental growth and consequently in education is to ob- 
tain knowledge. This knowledge comes in the form of 
perceptions of the qualities of objects, or facts in regard 



52 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

to the relations of objects. The primary perceptions or 
facts come through the senses. This primary knowl- 
edge becomes the basis for all subsequent operations of 
the mind. 

The second step is a comparison of two or more 
perceptions and the recognition of their likenesses and 
nnlikenesses. This comparison begins with objects the 
qualities of which, such as form, size, and color, are 
like or unlike. The facts concerning objects and their 
relations are also compared in the same manner. 

Grouping. — When objects are alike, they are asso- 
ciated in thought, and form a group. Qualities of ob- 
jects may be considered apart from the objects them- 
selves, and associated by their likeness, forming a group 
of qualities — as square, large, and red. Facts concern- 
ing objects may in like manner be compared, and formed 
into a single group by their likenesses. 

When objects are unlike, they are separated in thought 
and are placed apart, forming the basis of different 
groups. Qualities of objects, and facts concerning ob- 
jects, are in the same way separated by their unlikenesses 
and formed into different groups. Unlikenesses as well 
as likenesses form the basis of association for the assist- 
ance of memory. 

Objective Classification. — In comparing a large num- 
ber of objects, several being found alike may constitute 
a group ; several others unlike the first may also be 
alike and form another group, and this process may con- 
tinue until a number of distinct groups are formed. 
The basis of each group is likeness, and the basis of 
the several groups is unlikeness. When these several 
groups, unlike in particular qualities, are alike in some 



OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 53 

general characteristics, the different groups are called 
classes, and the process of forming them is termed Oh- 
jective Classification. 

Generalization, Law, Principle, Definition. — The 
characteristic in which the different classes are alike is a 
general truth, and the process or power of obtaining a 
general truth is called generalization. When the gen- 
eral truth expresses invariable relations, it is called a law. 
Assumed as the basis of further mental operations, a law 
is called a principle. When the general truth expresses 
a description, or fixes the limits of a subject, it is called 
a definition. 

Examples. — A number of objects may be compared. 
From their likenesses we call one group hats, another 
group hoots, and still another coats. The articles in each 
group are alike in regard to the particular use for which 
they are made ; and the groups are unlike because the 
uses of the articles in the different groups are not iden- 
tical. By a further investigation, however, we find that 
hats, boots, and coats are all clothing for the protection 
and comfort of the body — the general truth arrived at 
being the idea expressed by the word clothing. A de- 
scription of this idea is a definition. 

A phenomenon is observed, like the falling of an 
apple. This fact is compared with the falling of other 
substances, and a number of facts are grouped together 
by their likenesses. We observe, also, that bodies, like 
the articles on a table, do not fall to the ground. We 
have now two groups, and the difference we observe be- 
tween them relates to their support. By a further in- 
vestigation we find that all bodies not supported fall to 
the ground, and this conclusion is a law. By a wider 



54 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

investigation, involving a greater number of facts and 
relations, we infer that all bodies have a tendency to 
approach each other, and this inference is also a law — 
but a law of wider application than the preceding one. 

This process of beginning with simple perceptions, 
and ending in the discovery of a law or in the expres- 
sion of a definition, is primary ', because it embraces the 
first steps which the mind must take in the acquisition 
of knowledge ; it is objective, because it begins with an 
object ; it is synthetic, because it aggregates or puts to- 
gether ; and it is inductive, because it leads into a law 
or principle. 

Benefits of the Objective Method. — In regard to 
mental development, the objective course contributes 
mainly to mental growth, and without a wide accumu- 
lation of knowledge systematically arranged by the 
inductive method, the mind can not attain its full 
stature. By this method the faculties are exercised in 
the exact order in which they are successively brought 
into activity by a natural and normal development. 
The method itself has a tendency to arouse this activ- 
ity in its natural order. 

In regard to knowledge, the objective method is the 
very way in which all definite ideas of the outward 
world are obtained. It is also the course of discovery. 
By means of it each individual learns the facts of the 
universe, and becomes acquainted with the laws which 
control all phenomena. Through it the human race 
gained its first knowledge of Nature, and took its first 
steps in civilization. 

Spirit of Modern Science. — The great revolution 
effected by Bacon is largely attributable to the ends 
which he proposed as the proper ones for all scientific 



OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 55 

and philosophic investigation. These ends consisted 
first, in multiplying human enjoyments and in mitigat- 
ing human suffering. The ancient philosophy which 
ruled over the thoughts of men, up to the time of the 
great inductive philosopher, " disdained to be useful, 
and was content to be stationary." Bacon valued knowl- 
edge in the direct proportion as it promoted utility and 
human progress. 

The change in the ends proposed necessitated a 
change in methods. When the end of philosophy was 
an ideal and unattainable exaltation of spirit above ma- 
terial needs and desires, the methods pursued were 
purely speculative, and independent of the facts of Na- 
ture or consciousness. When the end was the promotion 
of human welfare, then these facts were of the most pro- 
found significance, and nothing could be considered " too 
insignificant for the attention of the wisest which is not 
too insignificant to give pain or pleasure to the meanest." 

From this change in the ends and methods of thought 
and investigation, modern science had its birth, and 
since that time has performed its wondrous mission of 
beneficence to humanity. Its progress, however, has 
been marked by a continuous battle with the inertia 
and with the reactionary forces of society — a conflict 
still far from being ended. 

The introduction of the objective course into schools 
is but the recognition in education of the ends and meth- 
ods which have proved of such eminent advantage in 
science. And when both are thoroughly understood and 
appreciated by our teachers, we may expect a result as 
beneficent as that already effected in science, and one 
much more universal in its application. 



CHAPTEB IV. 

SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 

The Subjective Method. — When all the available 
facts bearing upon a subject have been acquired, com- 
pared, and classified, according to the objective method ; 
and when generalizations have been made resulting in 
laws or definitions, then the subject has become a pos- 
session of the mind, and needs to be arranged in such 
order as to be most easily and effectively used. At 
this point the knowledge under consideration becomes 
the basis for the subjective course. 

This know] edge is expressed either in the form of a 
law, or a definition. "When expressed as a law, the sub- 
jective course consists of successive applications of the 
law to new departments of thought and research. The 
results of these applications of law are at once a verifi- 
cation of the law and the placing of phenomena in the 
order of dependence. The application of laws in the 
investigation of science and philosophy is governed by 
the rules of deductive logic. 

Definition. — When subjective knowledge starts from 
a definition, the first thing to consider is the definition 
itself. The essential elements of a true definition are 

(56) 



SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 57 

simplicity and truth. The definition must be expressed 
in language more perspicuous and simple than the word 
or thing to be defined ; and it must embrace and ex- 
press the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth. 

Examples of Definition. — Addition is Addition. 
This is not a real definition, because the word to be de- 
fined is used in the definition — thus producing mere 
tautology. 

Addition is the Process of Adding tivo or more Quan- 
tities. In this case the word defined is repeated in one 
of its forms, and nothing simpler or more easily under- 
stood is given. This is called " defining in a circle." 

Addition is the Aggregation of the Individualities 
that Compose an Entity. Here the words employed 
are more difficult of comprehension and less simple and 
perspicuous than the word to be defined. 

Geography is a Description of the Moon. This 
definition is at fault because it is not true. 

Geography is a Description of Europe. This 
definition does not express the whole truth. 

Geography is a Description of the Earth. This 
definition expresses more than the truth. 

In all subjective work the importance of definition 
can scarcely be over-estimated. Every definition, before 
it is finally accepted, should be tested by the principles 
already illustrated. 

Division of a Subject. — The second step in the sub- 
jective course is the division of a subject into distinct 
parts. This division must be made on a single basis, 
and the several parts must represent real differences. 

These divisions may be natural, as the division of 



58 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

stars into fixed stars and planets ; or they may be artifi- 
cial and conventional, as the divisions in the census- 
tables — separating persons by their ages into classes em- 
bracing those under ten years and those over ten years 
of age. 

Imperfect Division. — Whenever it is found, on a 
thorough examination of each of the parts, that they 
fail to exhaust the subject, the division is faulty, be- 
cause the parts are insufficient in number. And when 
the parts are found to overlap each other, and partially 
to treat of the same department of the subject, the di- 
vision is imperfect, either from having too great a num- 
ber of parts, or from a failure to observe the relations 
which subsist between the basis and the parts. 

Subjective Classification. — The several parts into 
which the subject is divided are next arranged for ex- 
amination in the order of their dependence — the part 
which is independent receiving the first attention, the 
one depending on the first coming next in order, and 
so on. This division of a subject into its constituent 
parts upon a single basis, and the arrangement of the 
parts according to the laws of dependence, is known as 
subjective classification. 

Illustration. — Take, for example, grammar. The 
subjective treatment would call first for a definition 
which would exactly limit the subject. Upon the 
basis of the words that compose the language, gram- 
mar is divided into Orthography, which treats of the 
formation of words ; Etymology, which treats of the 
classification of words ; Syntax, which treats of the 
formation of sentences out of words ; and Prosody, 
which treats of the classification of sentences. In the 



SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 59 

order of the examination of these parts, it will be seen 
that words must be formed before they can be classi- 
fied ; that they must be formed and classified before 
they can be made into sentences ; and sentences must 
be formed before they can be classified. Hence, Or- 
thography is the independent term, Etymology is the 
term depending upon Orthography alone, Syntax the 
term depending upon Orthography and Etymology, 
and Prosody the term depending upon all of the 
preceding. 

Opposing Theories. — A controversy has arisen 
among scientific men in regard to the classification of 
natural history : one party insisting that the divisions 
shall be grouped around types, while the opposite party 
is equally strenuous that all divisions shall be founded 
upon definition. From the analysis here made, it will 
be seen that the classification resulting from the process 
of discovery is objective, and of necessity is based on 
types ; while the classification which comes from a 
more extended knowledge, viewed as a whole, is sub- 
jective, and is based upon definitions. 

Scientific View. — Huxley says : " So long as our in- 
formation concerning them is imperfect, we class objects 
together according to resemblances which we feel but 
cannot define ; we group them around types, in short. 
Thus, if you ask an ordinary person what kinds of ani- 
mals there are, he will probably say : Beasts, birds, rep- 
tiles, fishes, and insects. Ask him to define a beast from 
a reptile, and he cannot do it ; but he says : ' Things 
like a cow or a horse are beasts, and things like a frog 
or lizard are reptiles.' You see, he does class by type, 
and not by definition. But how does this classification 
6 



60 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

differ from that of the scientific zoologist ? How does 
the meaning of the scientific class-name of ' mammalia ' 
differ from the unscientific name of beasts f Why, ex- 
actly because the former depends on a definition, and 
the latter on a type. The class mammalia is scientifically 
defined as ' all yertebrated animals that suckle their 
young.' Here is no reference to type, but a definition 
rigorous enough for a geometrician ; and such is the 
character which every scientific naturalist recognizes as 
that to which his classes must aspire — knowing, as he 
does, that classification by type is simply an acknowl- 
edgment of ignorance and a temporary device." 

Definition of Divisions. — The third step in the sub- 
jective course is the treatment of the several parts as 
though each were a new subject. These parts are to 
be taken in the order of their arrangement, and each one 
defined — -the definition to conform to the standard al- 
ready described. The name given to each part, as far 
as possible, should indicate the basis upon which the 
division is made. 

Sub -divisions. — The fourth step is the separation of 
the divisions or sub -divisions, following the same law 
and the same order as the first general divisions of 
the subject. These steps of successive definition and 
division follow each other alternately until the ultimate 
facts, which lie at the foundation of the whole subject, 
are reached. 

Characteristics of the Subjective Course. — This 
process of beginning with the knowledge of a subject, 
expressed as a definition, and ending in ultimate facts, 
is secondary, because it comes after the primary course ; 



SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 61 

it is subjective, because it begins with the subject 
already in the mind ; it is analytic, because it takes 
apart ; and it is deductive, because it leads from a law 
or definition. 

Relations to Development. — In regard to mental 
development, the subjective course contributes mainly 
to mental strength, and without it the individual, though 
of mature years, is still a child in thought. The effect 
of the subjective treatment upon the mind is analogous 
to the effect of muscular exercise upon the body. 
While to some extent this process may contribute to 
growth, its principal effect lies in the increase of power. 

Relations to Knowledge. — In regard to knowledge, 
the subjective course points out the way in which 
knowledge may be used. It is the course of application. 
By means of it each individual learns to bring phenom- 
ena under the domain of law, and to see in all phenom- 
ena the evidence of law. Through it the race turns 
knowledge to profitable account, and makes it con- 
tribute to the promotion of human welfare. 

Place in an Educational Course. — The subjective 
course rounds out and completes education. It points 
out the way in which objective knowledge can be ren- 
dered practically useful. "With a broad foundation of 
facts observed and laws discovered, this course coordi- 
nates them all, opens the way for new investigation in 
higher fields of thought, and becomes emphatically the 
course of wisdom. Keeping in view that the end to 
be attained is human welfare, it converts all knowledge 
into philosophical agencies, and regards knowledge as 
valuable in proportion as it can be made to conduce to 
this end. 



62 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Misuse of the Subjective Method. — By attempting 
to use subjective methods without a sufficient objective 
foundation, human thought has been led into unreal 
and fanciful speculations, which have often been dig- 
nified by the name of philosophy. Mental processes 
sustained by a narrow basis of fact require the same 
expenditure of vital force as those built upon broader 
foundations, but they lack fruit. To use the expressive 
language of Macaulay : " A pedestrian may show as 
much vigor on a tread-mill as on a highway ; but, on 
the road the vigor will assuredly carry him forward, 
and on the tread-mill he will not advance an inch. 
Many of the old philosophies were tread-mills, not 
paths. They were made up of controversies which 
were always beginning again. They were contrivances 
for having much exertion and no progress. During 
the time of their continuance the human race accord- 
ingly, instead of marching, merely marked time. 
Words, and mere words, and nothing but words, had 
been the fruit of all the toil of all the most renowned 
sages of sixty generations." 

By enlarging the basis of thought, the same vigor in 
thinking has created all the many improvements which 
have contributed so much to the welfare of the race. 
This changed method is seen in the mental and moral 
spheres, as well as in the sphere of physical action; 
and now the question which is most frequently asked 
by philosophers is : " How will this thought affect the 
condition of men ? " The old fruitless philosophies, 
with their narrow formalisms and unattainable ends, be- 
came firmly intrenched in the schools, where they have 
had supreme control until within a comparatively recent 



SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 63 

period. Missing the great ends of education, these 
schools have often borne fruit of words only. The faults 
of the systems were precisely the faults of the philoso- 
phies upon which they were founded, and the remedy 
for these faults is to be found in a generous objective 
course to precede all efforts at subjective reasoning. 

The Objective and Subjective Courses Com- 
bined. — From the foregoing discussion it will be seen 
that to a complete education, both the objective and 
subjective courses are indispensable, and therefore 
neither can be considered of more importance than the 
other. It will also be seen that in regard to time the 
relative place of each has been determined by the laws 
of mental action. 

It should be borne in mind that in any given subject 
it is not necessary that the whole of the objective course 
be completed before the subjective is begun. Every 
part of the objective work may be separately put into 
subjective forms. 

Example. — In the study of arithmetic, the pupil may 
be taught how to put numbers together so that the result 
shall be the same in value as the numbers first taken. 
He may derive his first knowledge of this process from 
objects ; then, he may use concrete numbers when the 
objects are not present ; and finally, he may be led to 
use abstract numbers. When the mental process has 
been mastered, he may be taught the value of figures ; 
the method of expressing numbers by figures ; the man- 
ner of arranging figures for addition ; the convenient 
method of adding the numbers represented by the in- 
dividual figures so as to produce the correct result ; the 



(31 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

means of expressing this result, and the manner of ver- 
ifying it. He may then be led to describe the process 
he has gone through, and this description becomes the 
rule for future use. Then he learns that the whole 
work which he has done is addition. A brief synopsis 
of this work, which he thoroughly understands, is a defi- 
nition. . This work is objective. It begins with the 
facts, and proceeds through a series of comparisons and 
generalizations until the definition is at last reached. 

The subjective course can now be brought into oper- 
ation. The definition is formally and accurately stated, 
and the subject is divided into its several departments 
of methods of writing the numbers, operations, rule, 
proof. Each of these is, in turn, divided until the facts 
of addition are reached. What is true of addition is 
true of each one of the divisions of arithmetic ; after 
the objective development, each may be stated in sub- 
jective forms. When arithmetic in all its forms has 
been examined in this manner, it may be treated sub- 
jectively as a whole, and the relations of the various 
parts to each other and to the whole may be ascertained. 

The Two Courses as Belated to Discovery and Ap- 
plication. — The objective course dealing with objects 
and minutiae reaches laws and principles, by occupying 
a comparatively narrow field of investigation. The sub- 
jective course, by applying the principles discovered to 
every, possible case, widens this field, and in this way 
enlarges the conceptions which follow investigation. 

The objective course furnishes the materials indis- 
pensable to sound thinking and correct conclusions. 
The subjective appropriates these materials and conclu- 
sions, and applies them to specific ends. 



SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 65 

The objective course busies itself with finding out 
what are the facts in the case, and what these facts sig- 
nify. The subjective employs itself in arranging the 
facts in order, and in devoting them to such uses as will 
most effectually serve humanity. 

The Two Courses as Related to the Teachers Worh. 
— In this work the objective course is necessary in de- 
veloping the perceptive powers ; in cultivating habits 
of close attention on the part of pupils ; in showing the 
way by which laws are discovered, and in pointing out 
the method in which the mind must act to reach just 
conclusions in any field of research or investigation. 

The subjective course is indispensable to the teacher 
for arranging knowledge and placing it in its order of 
dependence. This arrangement enables him to deter- 
mine the successive steps necessary in both the objective 
and subjective methods of presentation; and further 
enables him to make the most effective application of 
knowledge to human affairs. 

By the application of subjective principles, both 
teacher and pupils are enabled to become intelligent in 
regard to the results of investigations which they have 
not made objectively. To make this latter result possi- 
ble, however, two things are necessary : First, that the 
principle itself shall be obtained by a strictly objective 
process ; and secondly, that the new investigation shall 
be similar to the one already accomplished, and one to 
which the principle fully applies. 

Example. — In the study of physics, by observation 
and experiment, we may find that water presses equally 
in all directions, and that the pressure is in direct ratio 
to its depth. We may now infer that other fluids like 



QQ PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

water will be subject to the same laws, and we do not 
need to make experiments with each one. When we 
find it stated that gaseous fluids are subject to similar 
laws, we accept the statement, although we have made 
no experiments upon these fluids. By the study of the 
facts in the first instance we derived the law; and 
henceforth, whenever we find an application of this law 
in a new direction, we fully understand the matter, and 
do not require that the demonstration shall be made in 
each specific instance. 

Errors of Reversing the Two Courses. — A law as- 
sumed or taken on trust, without any knowledge of the 
process by which it was obtained, is of comparatively 
little worth in mental development. The enunciation 
of the law is often a mere formula of words which con- 
veys no information to the mind. For example, many 
- pupils have learned that the attraction of bodies is 
directly as the matter they contained, and inversely as 
the square of the distance, without in the least compre- 
hending the nature or the magnitude of the law con- 
tained in the formula which they have memorized. 

By a series of mathematical steps, it is easy to dem- 
onstrate to a pupil that " in similar figures the homolo- 
gous sides are proportional ; " but to have this proposi- 
tion simply learned would not be of the slightest value 
to the student in geometry. So in astronomy : by care- 
ful study of the facts concerning the solar system, we 
can understand " that the planets in their motions around 
the sun pass over equal spaces in equal times ; " but this 
formula, which is the expression of an important law 
when understood, is simply verbal lumber when not un- 
derstood. 



SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. £7 

Corollaries. — From the laws unfolded in the two 
preceding chapters, several corollaries can be drawn, 
which may be taken as principles both in arranging 
courses of study and in devising methods of instruction. 

Sources of Primary Ideas. — The first of the corol- 
laries is, that all primary ideas of the outward world 
must come through the senses. This principle will lead 
to the careful and thorough training of each of the 
senses, and to the cultivation of observation and percep- 
tion. It will base all knowledge on personal experi- 
ence, and avoid the absurd practice of endeavoring to 
make one sense do the work of another, and of present- 
ing ideas beyond the comprehension of the child. 

Training the Senses. — The second corollary is : The 
senses should he trained and made acute by systematic 
object-teaching . 

This principle is derived from the general discussion 
of the subject, and may be inferred directly from the 
last corollary. As our knowledge must needs come 
through the avenues of sense, then it follows that one 
of the most important factors of intelligence is acute- 
ness of sense. The senses that most enter into intellec- 
tual processes are sight, hearing, and touch, and in no 
way can they be trained to great sensibility, except by 
means of sights, sounds, and manipulations which ap- 
peal directly to them. Only to a very limited extent 
do our present school-exercises contribute to this accu- 
rate training of the senses. 

Securing Attention. — Third corollary. Attention 
is best secured by proper and related object-lessons. 

A child is always more interested in something that 
appeals to his senses than in abstract matters. By adapt- 



68 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ing tlie lessons to the capacity and immediate interests 
of the child and by appealing to his cnriosity, the teacher 
can always succeed in getting attention. In the process 
of growth the mind becomes interested in more abstract 
matters, and the object-lessons may be gradually omitted. 

Cultivating Perceptions. — Fourth corollary. Per- 
ceptive knowledge should he made the oasis of primary 
instruction. 

This follows from the fact that the perceptive pow- 
ers are relatively most active in childhood, and hence 
the school course should provide the material best suited 
to awaken these powers to activity. It equally follows 
from the fact that such knowledge is needed for the next 
step in mental growth, and that a failure to improve the 
season and opportunity is fatal to the highest improve- 
ment. 

Exercises in Memory. — Fifth corollary. Memory 
is best cultivated by forcible, repeated, and related per- 
ceptions and ideas. 

This follows from the general fact that the deepest 
impression is retained the longest, and it shows that the 
faculties are so related that, in the primary stages, that 
course of training which is best for one is best for all. 
It also effectually disposes of the nonsense that rote- 
teaching should be practised because it " strengthens 
the memory." 

Advanced Instruction. — Sixth corollary. Subjects 
appealing mainly to the reason and judgment belong 
to the advanced course of instmtction. 

This principle is so obvious, that there would be no 
necessity of stating it were it not for the fact that it 
is so often violated in practice. Many studies are ad- 



SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 69 

mitted in the primary- school course which have no place 
there, and little children are given tasks which would 
tax the ability of mature minds. The result is, that 
teaching must of necessity become mechanical, because 
the logical formulas are simply understood as sounds, 
and not as ideas. 

Ideas and Words. — Seventh corollary. Ideas 
should precede words. 

This principle follows from the nature of language, 
and the relations of language to thought. While the 
statement is all that is needed to establish its truth, a 
more detailed explanation is necessary to show its ap- 
plication in certain cases. The principle includes the 
following minor statements : Objects should precede 
names y thoughts should precede sentences y knowledge 
should precede definitions. 

This last proposition, besides being included in the 
general principle, may be directly inferred from the 
laws of mental development, and from the nature of 
the objective course. 

By reversing this process, and giving definitions or 
attempting to give them before the thing defined is 
well understood, several of the fundamental principles 
of teaching are violated, time and effort are wasted, and 
the powers of the mind are permanently injured by a 
most unnatural process. 

The Steps of Instruction. — Eighth corollary. In- 
struction shotdd proceed from the known to the un- 
known. This truth also shows that the attainment of 
all knowledge should have a basis in personal experience. 
By directing the observing powers to the objects and 
phenomena nearest at hand, the mind becomes possessed 



70 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

of real knowledge ; and from this snre basis of home 
knowledge it gradually extends outward toward the un- 
known. Each item of the unknown in converted into 
the known, and each step taken is a firm step in ad- 
vance. 

This principle includes the following elements : In- 
struction should proceed from the concrete to the ab- 
stract ; from the simple to the complex / and from 
facts to principles. In examining a single object, in- 
struction may go from the general to the particular, but 
with a number of objects it passes from the particular 
to the general. 

Exercise. — The ninth corollary is : Exercise should 
be left to the pupil. The race, in its education, was 
obliged to gain knowledge by experiences which nearly 
as often retarded as promoted direct development. The 
teacher's work should remove these obstacles, and should 
so direct the pupil in the use of his own powers that the 
greatest progress may be made with the least waste. In 
the exercise of this directive power the teacher must 
avoid the very prevalent fault of telling too much, and 
by so doing of depriving the pupil of an opportunity 
for that mental exercise which is indispensable to his 
highest good. 

To the end that the pupil shall receive the utmost 
benefit, the teacher must always carefully select the ma- 
terials to be used, and so arrange the conditions that 
with ordinary observation the pupil will discover the 
desired truth. This end can be defeated either by ren- 
dering the process too obscure for the mental vision of 
the pupil, or by injudicious haste in verbal explanation. 
"When the teacher has so excited the curiosity of the 



SUBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION. 71 

pupil that lie is led to inquire, the desired end is more 
than half attained. 

Completed Processes. — Tenth corollary. Each pro- 
cess of instruction should include full perception, dis- 
tinct understanding, clear expression, and, where pos- 
sible, the passing of thought into act. 

In much of school-work the processes stop at one or 
the other of these steps, few being carried to the final con- 
summation. Some — as rote-lessons — never reach per- 
ceptions, but are reflected back from the sensorium as au- 
tomatic action ; some — as most of the lessons in primary 
grammar — fail to reach the understanding, but remain 
as vague perceptions. In very few schools is the prac- 
tice of clear expression enforced at all times ; and yet, 
from the necessity of forcible impressions, and from the 
relations of thought to the language, expression is seen 
to be an essential factor in both the reception and the 
retention of knowledge, and to a clear understanding. 

The last step, the passing of thought into act, is as 
yet seldom found in any schools except in the kinder- 
gartens and the schools of technology ; still, it will be 
seen that the step is necessary to the full perception 
and distinct understanding of many subjects; to the 
physical training that coordinates study and work ; and 
to the application of ideas and thought to common 
affairs and duties. 



. CHAPTER V. 

OBJECT-TEA CHING. 

G-eneral View of the Subject. — Primary teach- 
ing, until within a comparatively recent period, has 
consisted chiefly of mere routine work. The previous 
experience of the pupil was ignored, instead of being 
made the foundation of his school-work. From the 
observation of things with which he was partially fa- 
miliar, and in which he took an interest, his attention 
was forcibly turned to the consideration of the arbi- 
trary characters which make up the alphabet. School- 
work was considered as not only having no particular 
relation to previous experience, but as something di- 
rectly opposed to it. 

False Philosophy. — The philosophy somehow ob- 
tained that, the more difficult an exercise was made, 
and the more it differed from ordinary occupations and 
thoughts, the greater was its value as a mental exercise. 
In consequence, the school-lessons were little more than 
memorizing exercises, and the schoolroom had few at- 
tractions for the majority of children. 

Introduction of Object- Lessons. — While these me- 
chanical and unnatural methods were in practice, ob- 
ject-lessons were introduced. The decided superiority 

(72) 



OBJECT-TEACHING. f3 

of the new method over the old, in arousing attention 
and in exciting interest, was soon manifest. The new 
instruction appealed to experience, and excited the ob- 
serving powers to intense activity. It fed the mind 
upon real knowledge, and raised it out of the slough of 
inattention and listless inactivity produced by the old 
process of mere routine. 

Abuse of Object- Lessons. — These substantial results 
gained for the new system extensive notoriety, and led 
to an excessive estimation of its value. Object-lessons 
were found excellent in certain grades and under cer- 
tain circumstances, and it was therefore assumed that 
they would prove as good for all grades and under all 
circumstances. Experiments on a large scale were at 
once entered upon, in which object-lessons were made 
to take the place of nearly every other kind of study. 
Since it was found that the primary knowledge of the 
outward world could be best obtained through lessons 
in which the object was present, it was concluded that 
advanced knowledge could best be obtained in the same 
manner. Hence there grew up an undue estimation of 
personal experience, and an unwarranted depreciation 
of the experience of others as found recorded in books. 
The protest against the study of books was carried to 
an extreme, and the new method became nearly as one- 
sided as the old. 

Practical Mistakes. — Mistakes were also frequently 
made in the methods of applying object-teaching. Pu- 
pils were often required to obtain from objects ideas 
with which they were already familiar — making their 
tasks of no more interest than the old routine of the 
books. Facts were communicated by the teacher which 



74 PETNCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

the pupils could readily discover for themselves. The 
lessons assigned, instead of being in a connected series, 
were often so isolated and fragmentary that no relations 
could be discovered between them, and much of their 
real value, therefore, was lost. 

Reaction against Object- Teaching. — These faults of 
over- valuation, and of methods of application, caused 
many teachers to look with distrust upon the whole sys- 
tem of object-teaching. The real results in many cases 
falling so far short of what was generally expected, led 
to a reaction, in which the whole system of object-les- 
sons was declared a failure. As usual in such cases, 
the truth seems to lie between these extremes. 

Real Nature of Object- Lessons. — In a preceding 
chapter, it has been shown that the first ideas of the 
outward world must come from objects and through the 
senses. This necessary and indeed indispensable pro- 
cess, which occupies the attention during a large share 
of the earlier years of life, is object-teaching. When a 
similar process is introduced into school, and the quali- 
ties of objects become known from the examination of 
the objects themselves, the performance is an object- 
lesson. 

Yalue of Object-Lessons. — By systematizing ob- 
ject-lessons, the observing powers are cultivated and 
trained, qualities of objects become known that were 
unnoticed before, the mind is filled with that knowledge 
which is essential to advanced thought, and a much 
wider basis is given to culture than is usual in school- 
work. 

Qualities of Objects. — The forms of objects, and 



OBJECT-TEACHING 75 

ideas in regard to differences of form, are readily ob- 
tained through the examination of objects. For the 
purpose of impressing these ideas of form, every school 
should be supplied with a variety of the regular plane 
and solid figures, so that children may become familiar 
with them at a very early period. The different colors, 
with their varieties of hues, tints, and shades, can be 
best known by examining objects which represent these 
colors ; and the only way to train the senses to a nice 
appreciation of color is through this examination, which 
is an object-lesson. The mind is best trained to under- 
stand ideas of position, size, and number in a similar 
manner. 

The Physical Sciences. — The first steps in every 
science are those which make us acquainted with the 
facts upon which it is based. In all the physical sci- 
ences, the primary facts are obtained from the observa- 
tion of objects. This is object-teaching. Without this 
observation, and the facts which result from it, correct 
inference is impossible, and science can never advance 
beyond its rudimentary state. 

Illustrative Examples. — In mineralogy and geology, 
which treat of the inorganic world, the first step is to 
carefully examine specimens of the principal rocks 
which compose the crust of the earth. By this exami- 
nation, we become acquainted with the structure and 
qualities of each specimen, and the differences between 
them. This knowledge is at once fundamental and 
necessary, and each exercise in school designed to give 
a pupil this knowledge constitutes an object-lesson. 

In botany and zoology, the same principle holds 
true. In these cases, plants and animals respectively 
7 



76 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

must be subjected to careful examination, and their pe- 
culiarities of structure and parts noted. This investi- 
gation is preliminary to any clearly-defined knowledge 
of them. No speculations, however profound, can be 
substituted for these elementary facts, which can only 
be obtained through the process of object-teaching. 
Physics, chemistry, and indeed the whole circle of the 
sciences, will afford additional illustrations of this truth. 

" How not to do it." — In endeavoring to teach sci- 
ence, a method has extensively prevailed which admira- 
bly illustrates the process of how not to do it. The 
student is referred to a book, instead of to natural 
objects, to procure his preliminary ideas in regard to 
the subject. He is required to accept authority, in the 
place of making personal investigation. He learns a 
formula of words, which is said to be a law, or rule, 
or definition, when he is utterly ignorant of the facts 
upon which the law, or rule, is based, and of the knowl- 
edge embodied in the definition. The whole perform- 
ance is a substitution of apparent for real knowledge, 
and, whether resulting from ignorance or design, is a 
practical fraud, by which not only are time and labor 
lost, but the mind becomes so deteriorated as to be un- 
able to distinguish between the spurious and the real, 
the false and the true. 

Ideal Objects. — In its enlarged sense, the term object 
means anything to which thought is or may be directed. 
It is not necessarily confined to things which manifest 
themselves through the senses. The mind may consider 
a physical object, like an apple, a physical quality, like 
color, a mental process, like perception, or a moral 
power, like conscience ; and in each instance, that upon 



OBJECT-TEACHING. 77 

which the mind is employed is an object. Whether the 
object is real, like an apple, or ideal, as a mental power 
or fact, the mind must become acquainted with all its 
qualities, characteristics, and relations ; and the process 
of obtaining this knowledge is both objective and in- 
ductive. When this process is carried still further in 
the investigations of science it culminates in laboratory 
experiments, both physical and psychological. In this 
sense, objective work is the necessary foundation of 
every department of thought. 

Order in Thinking. — To ascertain laws, to discover 
truth, and to promote human welfare, mental operations 
must proceed in a strictly definite order. As the ma- 
terials of thought are primarily derived from the ob- 
servation of external objects, so the order of thought 
springs from the observation of the sequence, causation, 
and dependence of objects and phenomena in the out- 
ward world. These ideas, essential to logic and all con- 
nected thought, are most forcibly presented, and make 
the deepest impression on the mind, by systematic ob- 
ject-lessons, in which relations, as well as qualities, are 
presented. 

The Ideal and the Real. — Descartes, in his philoso- 
phy, maintains that the only reality of which we are 
absolutely certain is that we think). Through our senses 
we observe objects, and we ascribe to these objects real 
existence ; but of this reality we cannot be perfectly 
sure, for our senses may deceive us, and that which we 
think exists may be only an appearance. In the shim- 
mer of the light over the parched sands of the desert, 
the thirsty traveller sees water, to all appearance as real 
as the little lakes that lie among the hills of more favored 



78 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

regions. It is an appearance, however, that mocks the 
sight ; and the only real thing to the traveller is that he 
thinks he sees the water. 

The next position taken by the philosopher is that 
the materials and order of thought are furnished by the 
outward world. In our daily experience we observe the 
sequences of Nature. Night follows day ; the sun un- 
failingly appears to pursue his course through the 
heavens ; vernal flowers succeed winter snows ; all 
vegetable life has an orderly course from germ to ma- 
turity, and from maturity to decay ; animals have their 
birth, their growth, and their decrepitude, and every- 
where is orderly sequence. This observation leads the 
mind to ascribe order to every kind of phenomena, and 
develops in it the logical faculty. 

These positions show the ground for the reconcilia- 
tion of the apparently antagonistic ideal and real schools 
of philosophy, and at the same time serve as a guide to 
educational processes. The materials of thought must 
come from the outward world. The more we study 
natural phenomena, and rise to a comprehension of the 
laws that control them, the more thoroughly is our logi- 
cal faculty developed, and the better are we prepared 
to perform the duties of life. 

Interest in Study is greatly increased by well-ar- 
ranged object-lessons. The impression upon the mind, 
made directly through the senses, is much more vivid 
and lasting than when made indirectly through words. 
"When the object is present, an appeal is made to several 
of the senses, and thus deepens the impression desired 
and makes it easier of retention. By this means, also, 
vague and crude impressions are changed into clear and 



OBJECT-TEACHING. f9 

definite conceptions, and the field of experience is ex- 
tended on every side. 

Verification of a Law. — A law which, has been dis- 
covered inductively may need verification, or, as in the 
subjective course, it may become necessary to apply it 
to a great variety of new circumstances. In either case 
there must result an examination which will reach down 
to the ultimate facts, and this will involve object-lessons. 

Examples. — In observing a common balance, we find 
that the arms are of equal length, and that equal weights 
balance each other. By experiment we find that, if one 
arm is decreased, the weight must be increased to bal- 
ance the weight upon the other side. From these ob- 
servations we may infer that, to produce an equilibrium, 
the product of the weight, multiplied by the length of 
the arm, must be equal. This generalization from the 
observed facts needs additional verification before it can 
be accepted as a law. "Will it be true of all lengths of 
the arms ? Is it true of bent as well as straight arms ? 
Is it true of compound as of simple arms ? To answer 
these questions and others of the same sort, and before 
it is safe to assume that the inference made is a general 
law, experiments must be made with objects to verify 
the generalization in every case ; and when the verifica- 
tion has covered the ground of all supposable condi- 
tions, it is accepted as a law. 

Leverrier, noticing the perturbations of Uranus, from 
the established laws of gravitation inferred that its mo- 
tions were affected by a hitherto undiscovered planet ; 
and carrying out his inferences more in detail by the 
aid of mathematics, he inferred the place of the new 
planet at a given time. The astronomical observer 



80 PKINCIPLES AND PKACTICE OF TEACHING. 

turned his telescope in the direction indicated, and dis- 
covered Neptune, thus verifying the inferences of the 
astronomer. 

Summary. — From the foregoing discussion it will be 
seen that object-lessons are of use in the following par- 
ticulars : 

Fir 8% -they furnish the best means known for the 
exercise of observation and the training of the percep- 
tive powers. 

Secondly, they constitute the first steps in the un- 
folding of every science ; and especially are they indis- 
pensable in the study of natural history and the physi- 
cal sciences generally. 

Thirdly, they give to the mind the first ideas of 
orderly and methodical thinking. 

Fourthly, they are potent in exciting the mind to 
activity, and in arousing that curiosity and zeal which 
lead to new discovery. 

Fifthly, they furnish the means by which laws may 
be verified and principles may be applied. 

In consequence of these advantages, the time for- 
merly spent in mastering the branches taught in the 
primary schools may be greatly abridged ; and pleasant, 
healthful occupations may be substituted for burden- 
some and barren tasks. 

Cautions to he Observed. — In consequence of errors 
committed in the methods of conducting object-lessons, 
the good which would have resulted from their proper 
use has not been realized, and discredit has been thrown 
upon the whole system. These errors have arisen from 
a violation of one or more of the following simple rules 



OBJECT-TEACHING. 81 

in regard to their proper use, which rules may be di- 
rectly inferred from the nature of the system itself. 

First : No object-lesson should be given from a book. 
The very name of the exercise would seem to be suffi- 
cient to render this rule unnecessary ; but there have 
been teachers so profoundly stupid as to oblige pupils 
to commit to memory the model lessons given in manu- 
als of teaching. 

Secondly : In giving an object-lesson, the teacher 
should have a distinct end in view, and the lesson should 
be considered a failure unless this end is attained. 
Objectless object-lessons are always to be avoided. 

Thirdly : Object-lessons should be given in a sys- 
tematic course, each one conveying its own teaching, and 
bearing some palpable relation to the one that has pre- 
ceded and the one that follows, thus leading the pupil 
to the discovery of the relations, and enabling him to 
associate them in memory. Desultory object-lessons 
are of little worth. 

Fourthly: Object-lessons giving pupils ideas and 
thoughts with which they are already familiar are to be 
avoided. The interest of a lesson depends very much 
upon its novelty ; and if this element is wanting, there 
is very little left to create a permanent impression. 

Fifthly: In giving an object-lesson, the teacher 
should not tell the pupils the things they are to find, 
but he should lead them to observe with accuracy, 
and to express the results of their observation in proper 
language. The teacher's work is rather to guide by 
suggestion, so that the pupil may not go too far astray 
in his efforts to observe. 

The Limits of Object- Teaching can now be readily 



82 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

seen. In the objective course they constitute the first 
steps, and in the subjective course they are useful in 
the ultimate analysis necessary to the verification of 
laws and to the application of principles. Subsensuous 
knowledge, or that which is below the senses, and ob- 
tained through them, is derived from objects; but 
supersensuous knowledge, or that which is above the 
senses, and is the result of reflection, is aided only indi- 
rectly by object-lessons. 

The final result of mental discipline is the attain- 
ment of supersensuous knowledge, and the ability to 
deal with abstract relations and principles. This con- 
summation of education is equally hindered by a neg- 
lect of object-lessons, so that culture rests upon a narrow 
and insufficient basis of fact, and by a continuation of 
exclusive object-lessons too long, so that the mind is kept 
under the domain of the senses, and independent thought 
is rendered nearly impossible. In the latter case, such 
lessons become obstacles rather than aids to the highest 
attainments. 

Additional Caution. — In the study of objects, and 
especially in the branches of natural history, there is a 
tendency to become so much interested in the objects 
themselves, as to neglect the lessons to be derived from 
such objects. The man who yields to this tendency de- 
generates from a possible naturalist to a mere collector. 
His work is often as unmeaning as that of the miser in 
hoarding money. The collection which is really valua- 
ble only as a means of culture, to him is the end of cul- 
ture, and he remains in a state of mental vassalage to 
the specimens he has gathered. One good, however, 
may result from his work : The cabinet, once formed 3 



OBJECT-TEACHING. 83 

may, in wiser hands, be a valuable aid in attaining the 
ends of a true education. 

Conclusion. — When education is more thoroughly 
understood, both in regard to its aims and its methods, 
it is evident that natural science will occupy relatively a 
much higher place than now. From the beginning of 
school-life, the facts and elements of science will proba- 
bly be taken as the basis of education. When this gen- 
eral result is reached, object-lessons will fall into their 
proper place as indispensable in the first steps of scien- 
tific research. In the pursuit of natural history the 
larger share of the work will consist of systematized 
object-lessons. But at the same time, in all probability, 
the peculiar form which these lessons have now gen- 
erally taken, as altogether disconnected from the regu- 
lar studies of the school, will be materially modified or 
entirely abandoned. When science is taught in a regu- 
lar and systematic manner, fragments of science will no 
longer be necessary. 



CHAPTER VI. 

RELATIVE VALUE OF THE DIFFERENT BRANCHES 
OF INSTRUCTION. 

The End of Education. — In considering the nature 
of education, Herbert Spencer sajs : " How to live ? 
that is the essential question for us. Not how to live 
in the mere material sense only, but in the widest sense. 
The general problem which comprehends every special 
problem is the right ruling of conduct in all directions 
and under all circumstances : In what way to treat the 
body ; in what way to treat the mind ; in what way to 
behave as a citizen ; in what way to utilize all those 
sources of happiness which Nature supplies ; how to use 
all our faculties to the greatest advantage to ourselves 
and others ; how to live completely. And this being 
the great thing needful to learn, by consequence is the 
great thing which education has to teach. To prepare us 
for complete living, is the function which education has 
to discharge ; and the only rational mode of judging of 
any educational course is to judge in what degree it dis- 
charges such functions." 

Practical Questions. — Admitting that it is desira- 
ble that education, to the extent of its influence, should 

contribute to good conduct and completeness of living, 

(84) 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 85 

the questions that are forced upon us are : What course 
of study will best accomplish these ends ? and what is 
the order in which the several branches of education 
should be presented % Ought we to accept the prevail- 
ing customs in these regards — customs inherited from 
remote generations — or should we submit each branch 
and each step in study to the test which this high ideal 
of the nature of educational work imposes ? 

The Old and the New. — It is always well to hold to 
customs and institutions of the past until it is clearly 
seen that a change will be for human benefit. The 
past imposes authority upon us to this extent, that we 
are to take for granted that any custom had its origin in 
human needs, and has been of use in promoting human 
welfare. This follows from the fact of its being. The 
good of society demands that this authority be obeyed 
and this custom or institution be conserved, until intel- 
ligence has so far advanced as to show that the interests 
of humanity demand a change, either in a readjustment 
of details, or in a reorganization of fundamental princi- 
ples. 

Responsibility for Change. — The burden of proof 
in regard to the desirability and necessity of a change 
rests entirely upon those demanding it ; and this proof, 
to be perfect, should include two elements : one destruc- 
tive, showing the imperfections and shortcomings of the 
old; and the other constructive, replacing the old by 
something manifestly higher and better. By the con- 
flict between these antagonistic forces, the poise of so- 
ciety is maintained, and a slow but sure advance is made 
toward a higher state of civilization. 

Conditions of Change. — In this perpetually recur- 



86 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ring controversy two attitudes are obstructive to human 
welfare : the one obstinately clinging to the old social 
forms, which, from changed conditions and circum- 
stances, have outlived their usefulness; and the other 
so eagerly and unintelligently iconoclastic as to wage 
war upon present institutions, before any rational and 
adequate system has been devised to take their place. 
The triumph of the one would arrest human progress, 
of the other would destroy social order. 

The principles which should govern change, true in 
general, are true in regard to education. The past has 
transmitted to the present a course of study and a sys- 
tem of methods ; and in proposing a change, the obliga- 
tion is imposed upon us of showing the errors of present 
practices, and of presenting a system better adapted to 
the needs and circumstances of to-day. 

Real and Apparent Knowledge. — At this point it is 
not intended to attempt anything like a scientific classi- 
fication of human knowledge, but only such a general 
division as will be of use in solving the problem imme- 
diately before us. 

In regard to education, the branches readily divide 
themselves into two classes : those that treat directly of 
the facts and laws of matter and mind, and those which 
are used to aid in the understanding and development 
of the main branches. These may be regarded respec- 
tively as knowledge, and the tools by which knowl- 
edge is obtained. Some of the studies pursued in 
school are of a double nature, combining both matter 
and form. 

Relations of Language. — Language is useful for the 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 87 

expression and preservation of knowledge ; but in its use 
it is simply a tool of knowledge, and not knowledge 
itself. The means by which language is mastered in its 
use, including spelling, reading, and writing ; and lan- 
guage itself, when actively employed in the prosecution 
of other branches of instruction, all occupy this subor- 
dinate position as tools, useful in proportion as they 
serve to disclose the treasures of real knowledge. When 
language, however, is studied in its structure, its history, 
and its relation to the development of man, it becomes 
a branch of real knowledge. 

Relations of Mathematics. — Our first knowledge of 
objects relates to qualities alone ; but before this knowl- 
edge is made exact, so as to merit the name of science, 
quantitative relations must be observed and measured. 
From the observation of these quantitative relations, the 
first ideas of number and definite extension seem to 
have arisen ; and these ideas, abstracted from the objects 
which gave them birth, and reduced to order, form the 
elements of mathematics. The mathematical branches, 
so formed, are indispensable in measuring the quantita- 
tive relations of the concrete sciences, and in this sense 
they are simply tools of knowledge. When mathe- 
matics is studied to discover the laws of relations, which 
it discloses independent of the concrete, it furnishes real 
knowledge, and has a distinct place as such, in a course 
of study. 

Macaulay says : " Bacon, assuming the well-being of 
the race to be the end of knowledge, pronounced that 
mathematical science could claim no higher rank than 
that of an appendage or an auxiliary to other sciences. 
Mathematical science, he says, is the handmaid of nat- 



88 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ural philosophy, and she ought to demean herself as 
such ; and he declares he cannot conceive by what ill- 
chance it has happened that she presumes to claim pre- 
cedence over her mistress." 

Direct and Incidental Acquirement. — Experience 
demonstrates that the use of tools is most quickly learned 
by engaging in real work. The end to be accomplished 
in education is the development of the individual 
through the attainment of real knowledge. To this 
end the main effort of the pupil should be directed. 
In the endeavor to come into possession of this real 
knowledge, the pupil incidentally becomes familiar 
with the tools necessary to serve his purpose. The 
branches of real knowledge are mastered by steadily 
fixing the primary attention upon the thoughts which 
they contain ; while, at the same time, the use of lan- 
guage, both in writing and speaking, and the elements 
of arithmetic and geometry, may be best acquired in- 
cidentally through the action of secondary attention. 

Kind of Knowledge Required. — The necessities of 
the mind demand real knowledge to arouse its activities 
and to promote its growth and well-being. Language 
and mathematics can no more satisfy the cravings of 
the mind than the knife and fork and balance for weigh- 
ing meat can satisfy the stomach in its cravings for food. 
However useful these branches and articles may be re- 
spectively in preparing knowledge and food, the one 
can never be knowledge nor the other food. , This par- 
allel does not hold in the advanced course of instruc- 
tion, when both language and mathematics are studied 
for intrinsic principles, and in their general relations to 
human progress. 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 89 

Branches of Real Knowledge. — The branches which 
furnish the real knowledge demanded by the mind are 
readily subdivided into two classes : those that treat of 
Nature below man, and those that treat of man and 
his works. These are roughly indicated as jScience 
and Philosophy, or as the Natural Sciences and the 
Humanities. Properly speaking, the term science 
would apply to the whole body of knowledge in any 
department of human investigation which is reduced 
to systematic order ; while philosophy would apply to 
the laws of relations, and the causes of phenomena and 
bein^ which science unfolds. 

The Branches as Related to Development. — 
"We have next to consider the value of the different 
branches in regard to the two great ends of education : 
the development of the powers, and practical use. For 
both these purposes real knowledge is demanded, and 
this knowledge should be presented in definite order. 
The purposes of study may be defeated by mistaking 
apparent for real knowledge, by presenting subjects at 
the wrong time, or by failing to recognize the order of 
dependence. We call attention, first, to the value of 
the branches in their relations to the powers of the 
mind. 

The Natural Sciences as Promoting Development. 
— From objects are obtained the qualities, facts, and 
ideas which are indispensable in the development of the 
perceptive powers. The natural sciences furnish mate- 
rial for this purpose that is fundamental, that is easily 
accessible, and that is full of interest. Without the 
materials which external Nature furnishes, the per- 



90 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ceptive powers cannot be brought into the highest 
state of activity, and the mind will lack that primary 
knowledge necessary for the normal operation of the 
higher faculties. 

The Discipline of Memory. — As the office of mem- 
ory is to record and preserve the results of the activities 
of the observing and reflective powers, it follows that 
those branches best calculated to stimulate these powers 
will also be best for the development of memory. We 
have already seen that the highest condition or form of 
memory is that founded upon the laws of association. 
The natural sciences when rightly presented tend to 
bring this principle of association into active exercise. 

An idea is first gained, and then is associated di- 
rectly with the name or word that expresses it, so that 
the two are henceforth one. These ideas are again as- 
sociated by their likenesses and unlikenesses on succes- 
sively higher planes, until the whole mass of knowledge 
is retained by means of its relations. 

The Humanities as Promoting Development. — The 
humanities present facts and relations more complex 
than the facts and relations derived from the natural 
sciences, and hence come later in order. They serve, 
however, to carry on the development of perception 
and memory to a still more advanced state. 

Discipline of the Reflective Faculties. — The higher 
faculties of the mind, including the imagination, reason, 
and judgment, are brought into most active exercise by 
those very facts which are found most valuable in de- 
veloping perception and memory. From the facts which 
we perceive — their connection and dependence — we 
make inferences and draw conclusions ; and the value 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 91 

of these inferences and conclusions will depend upon 
the accuracy with which we have observed, and the 
faithfulness with which these observations have been 
recorded. 

General Effect of Real Knowledge. — Study of this 
kind tends to form a habit of acquisitiveness ; a habit of 
collecting all the facts bearing upon given cases ; of 
carefully examining and combining these facts or data ; 
of drawing such inferences only as the data will war- 
rant ; and of verifying the inferences by renewed ob- 
servations and experiments. These habits are such as 
inevitably lead to the highest results in every depart- 
ment of investigation, and they are necessary to the ac- 
quisition of truth in every direction. 

The Discipline of Conduct. — In addition to the 
beneficial results to every power of the mind, the habits 
of thought formed by the careful study of real subjects, 
beginning with the natural sciences, directly tend to 
right conduct in life. In every step of progress the pupil 
learns the necessity of ridding his mind of bias, and of 
accepting that which is shown to be true. In this way 
a love of truth is constantly engendered ; and in pro- 
portion to the love for truth will be the love for right, 
and the disposition to act rightly. Carried into the 
field of morals, these methods of thought must result 
in making truth supreme ; in stimulating action in obe- 
dience to the dictates of truth ; and in carrying into 
practice the principles of justice which are founded 
upon truth. 

The B batches as Related to Uses. — Besides its 
office of affording nurture to the mind and of giving it 



92 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

discipline, knowledge is indispensable to human well- 
being in every spliere of life. 

Physical needs must be perpetually supplied, or the 
body dies. Children must have intelligent care, or they 
perish. The functions of industry and citizenship must 
be intelligently performed, or society relapses into a state 
of barbarism. Researches must be constantly made into 
the secrets of Nature, or civilization will cease to ad- 
vance, and become stagnant. 

Uses of Natural Science. — The natural sciences 
furnish the knowledge which is indispensable for these 
purposes, and which is the most fundamental of all. 
The scope of these sciences is broad. They make us 
acquainted : first, with the inorganic world ; secondly, 
with the two grand divisions of the organic world ; and 
thirdly, with the forces which control the action of 
matter in masses and in atoms. They make us ac- 
quainted with our physical environment, with the re- 
lations of these surroundings to ourselves, and with all 
the conditions necessary to be observed for the preser- 
vation of our own existence. 

A neglect of the truths which they teach entails 
upon us disease, suffering, and death. An intelligent 
comprehension of these truths enables us to avoid, in a 
large measure, the causes of disease, to diminish suffer- 
ing, and to prevent the premature termination of life. 
These truths are so fundamental that they affect every 
person during every moment of his existence. ]STo 
other sort of intelligence can supersede this, as there 
can be no escape from the evil consequences which 
ignorance in this direction inflicts. 

Natural Science and Industry. — The natural sci- 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 93 

ences lie at the foundation of all our industries and 
physical improvements. In the crude industries de- 
vised to supply primitive human needs, the physical 
sciences chiefly had their origin. Man step by step 
gathered all the facts which the industries supjDlied, ob- 
served relations, and inferred causes and laws. React- 
ing upon the industries, the sciences apply laws and 
principles to complicated cases, and produce results 
entirely unattainable in a more primitive society, but 
indispensable to present existence. 

Examples. — A large share of our food is produced 
by agricultural processes. Unless agriculture is intelli- 
gently pursued, a considerable proportion of the present 
population of the earth would perish. But the success- 
ful pursuit of agriculture demands a knowledge of the 
soils, their composition and changes, the principles and 
methods of restoring the vast waste of constant crop- 
ping, and this implies a knowledge of mineralogy and 
chemistry. There is also demanded a knowledge of veg- 
etable growth, which involves botany ; of noxious and 
beneficial insects, and of the useful animals that subsist 
upon vegetation, which involves the various branches 
of zoology. Upon these sciences also depend the suc- 
cessful production of cotton, flax, and silk, and their 
manufacture into cloth and clothing ; the various other 
manufactures necessary to supply human needs ; the 
construction of houses so as to afford protection from 
the elements ; the arrangements for artificial heating 
and ventilation ; the construction of domestic utensils, 
and of weapons both offensive and defensive, and the 
creation of all those comforts and conveniences essential 
to the highest enjoyment of life. 



94 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Joined with mathematics, these sciences have ena- 
bled us to construct roads, railroads, bridges, and ca- 
nals ; to tunnel mountains ; to furnish large cities with 
light, and never-f ailing supplies of water ; to drain 
marshes and construct sewers ; and, in a large measure, 
to comprehend sanitary laws, and provide the appliances 
necessary to secure perfect obedience to these laws. 

Ubiquity of the Elements of Natural Science. — 
The facts of Nature which form the elements of the 
natural sciences are everywhere around us, and are forc- 
ing themselves upon our notice. They come thronging 
in through the avenues of sense on every side, demand- 
ing recognition. They will be recognized, and will per- 
form their beneficent work, unless the attention is reso- 
lutely and systematically turned away from them and 
engrossed in other thoughts. This can only happen 
under a vicious system of education, where prominence 
is given to apparent rather than to real knowledge. 
Should we succeed, however, in shutting out the ideas 
which are appealing to our senses, we are made to suffer 
in actual pain, in the thwarting of desires, or in the 
loss of privileges or power. 

The elements of the natural sciences are so closely 
connected with physical well-being that they more pow- 
erfully affect the mind in early life, and hence are 
adapted to awaken a deeper interest than any other 
branches of study. This interest renders acquisition 
easier, and gives to the mind a greater store of knowl- 
edge with the same degree of effort. 

Uses of the Humanities. — The humanities, treating 
of man and his work, come in to carry forward the 
work of education toward completion. These branches 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 95 

include the division of man into races ; the distribution 
of races upon the earth ; the relation of man to his en- 
vironment ; the achievements of man in subduing Na- 
ture, and in controlling natural forces ; and the changes 
which man has wrought upon the earth. They also in- 
clude an examination of the nature and operations of 
mind, and the products of mind in their threefold 
manifestation — intellectual, moral, and sesthetic. 

Conditions of their Successful Use. — The humani- 
ties, however, to be of use in general culture, in indus- 
trial pursuits, or in business operations, must present real 
knowledge, and not merely serve as tools for getting 
real knowledge. In respect to methods of study, they 
miist also conform to the methods pursued in natural 
history and in other objective studies, where facts are 
first acquired and the process is continued through the 
regular chain of deductive operations until the law is 
discovered. 

To any thorough, understanding of the humanities, 
a knowledge of the facts and laws of the material world 
are indispensable. Thought and action everywhere are 
found to be so dependent upon outward circumstances 
and considerations that they cannot be understood until 
the forces that modify them are first comprehended. 
For example, the first steps in civilization are possible 
only in a region where the soil is fertile, the climate 
moderate, and where mountains or other natural bar- 
riers afford protection and isolation. The migration 
of races and the march of armies, which have been 
instrumental in spreading civilization, have been de- 
termined by the direction of mountain ranges, and the 
position of other natural obstacles. 



96 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

The character of every nation has been, to a con- 
siderable extent, determined by the circumstances which 
have surrounded it, and these circumstances in turn 
have largely depended upon material conditions. The 
events of history can never.be understood unless the 
physical conditions of the regions where they occur are 
first well understood. Even the literature and art of 
a people are found to be fashioned very much by the 
physical surroundings amid which they had their origin. 

Special Studies. — The special studies under the 
head of the Humanities, which are of the greatest im- 
portance in the work of education, are history, language 
and literature, mental and moral philosophy, and soci- 
ology. Each of these contributes real knowledge to the 
pupil's development ; the truths of each are necessary 
to his highest welfare ; and from each laws are derived, 
essential as a guide to individual conduct, and to the 
general progress of the race. • 

Importance of History. — Mental and moral philos- 
ophy have received attention elsewhere. History will 
next be considered in its threefold aspect of chronology, 
philology, and archseology. 

Chronology. — The study of chronology makes us ac- 
quainted with the achievements of the nations and races 
which at present inhabit the earth, and of those that 
have passed away, as far as recorded. Its field is his- 
tory as preserved in literature and tradition. It shows 
the progress of man from a low mental and moral state 
to his present condition, not by an uninterrupted ad- 
vance, but by a complicated series of progressions and 
retrogressions, difficult to trace and analyze. "With the 



RELATIVE VxVLUE OF INSTRUCTION. 97 

lapse of sufficient time, however, the direction of the 
change is manifest, and is seen to be growth. 

The facts which chronology furnishes, supplemented 
by those derived from the other sciences which bear 
upon the subject, bring into light the sequences of 
events, and show that national triumphs and disasters 
have their roots in moral causes. In this chronological 
survey, we can see enough of the past of man to know 
what elements enter into human affairs, and we are 
able to distinguish the permanent from the transient, 
and to order both individual and national lives progres- 
sively more in accordance with the laws of the uni- 
verse. 

Philology. — When recorded history fails, investiga- 
tion extends to a more distant past by means of philol- 
ogy. In the direction of historic research the pursuit 
of language receives its richest rewards. Studied not 
for the purpose of getting additional means of express- 
ing knowledge, but for obtaining knowledge itself, it 
furnishes some of the most important links in the chain 
of evidence relating to the great problems of man's 
origin, unity, and destiny. In the structure of words 
are recorded the first dim perceptions of mind, looking 
out upon the unknown, and the successive steps toward 
an intelligent comprehension of the facts, forces, and 
relations of the universe. These words need to be 
studied with as minute a care as the specimens of nat- 
ural history ; both the living words and the fossil re- 
mains of human speech as appearing in the form of ob- 
solete words and dead languages. The study of these 
specimens, .living and dead, equally repay the investi- 
gator in furnishing material for broader generalizations, 



98 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

and in leading to a better understanding of the laws 
which control mind and its products. 

Archaeology. — The study of the monuments, uten- 
sils, and weapons made by man carries the mind back 
still farther into antiquity, back beyond chronology, 
beyond philology, and beyond every evidence of man's 
existence, except that which is afforded by the most im- 
perishable materials upon which the labor of man has 
been spent. From our homes and from modern cities, 
furnished with all the materials of present civilization, 
we travel over the familiar ground of chronology, find- 
ing cities, and temples, and pyramids ; and beneath the 
crumbling ruins of great cities described in ancient lore, 
we find the ruins of other cities of which even tradition 
is silent. Still going back, step by step, we find the 
evidences of human art continually becoming less com- 
plex ; but at the same time we have not yet, by any 
method of research, gone back to a period when the in- 
clined plane, the wedge, the lever, the wheel and axle, 
the pulley, and the screw were unknown. The same 
may be said of the spindle, distaff, loom, and needle. 

What is Gained. — The study of these various phases 
of history puts man in possession of the past of human- 
ity, back to the dawn of intelligence, and shows what 
elements enter into his individual being, and into the 
civilization of the race. This knowledge not only grati- 
fies the natural curiosity in regard to the past, but is a 
necessity in putting man in the complete possession of 
his powers, and in enabling him to comprehend the 
tendencies of existence, so as to be able to adjust him- 
self to its perpetually varying conditions. 

This study, so difficult and profound, belongs to the 
advanced course of instruction, and is available only 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 99 

when a broad foundation of physical knowledge has been 
laid in the primary course. It supplements the physical 
sciences, and furnishes a field for thought and investiga- 
tion full of the promise of fruit. 

Fokeign Languages. — The study of a foreign lan- 
guage may be pursued for either one of three legitimate 
purposes : The possession of additional means for acquir- 
ing and expressing knowledge ; the knowledge found in 
the literature of the language ; and the help which the 
language gives to philological research. As mental de- 
velopment is incident to all study pursued by proper 
methods, its consideration as the special object of lin- 
guistic study is not entertained. 

Elementary Study. — All elementary study of a for- 
eign language must be for the purpose of becoming ac- 
quainted with its structure and idioms, and with the 
meaning of its words. It furnishes the mind with no 
real knowledge, but simply puts it in possession of the 
implements by which knowledge may be acquired. As 
a means, this study is valuable ; as an end, comparatively 
valueless. Carried to the point of mastery, it furnishes 
means of communication which may be used for valu- 
able purposes ; stopping short of this point, the time 
spent in its pursuit would bear much better fruit if 
given to the study of the vernacular, perfecting the use 
of one tongue, rather than obtaining a smattering of 
many. 

Foreign Literature. — The study of a foreign lan- 
guage, when pursued for the purpose of gaining an ac- 
quaintance with the literature which the language con- 
tains, produces fruit in the form of development and 



100 PRINCIPLES AND PEACTICE OF TEACHING. 

culture. Such study belongs to the advanced course. 
To a critical appreciation of the finest literary produc- 
tions of a people, an acquaintance with the language is 
doubtless a necessity ; but science and philosophy can be 
obtained equally well from translations, and even the 
purely literary works can be better appreciated through 
a good translation, than by their study in the original, 
when their language is imperfectly mastered. In home 
dress, English scholars may come in possession of the 
best scientific thought of the world wherever it may 
originate. In poetry, and in the prose where form is an 
essential element, there will be loss in translation ; but 
this loss may be largely compensated by the study of 
the English masters in these departments of literature. 
Comparative Philology. — Linguistic study, pursued 
for the purpose of throwing light upon human history, 
and of discovering the laws and evolution of language 
itself, belongs to the higher and professional courses of 
instruction. It does not constitute the basis of culture, 
but rather it completes the superstructure in one direc- 
tion. 

The Ancient Languages. — It is not designed here 
to enter into the controversies that have risen respecting 
the relative advantages of the ancient languages on the 
one hand, and of mathematics and the natural sciences 
on the other ; but the scope of this discussion demands 
that the claims of the former, as the exclusive basis of 
culture, should receive examination. 

Advantages Claimed. — The advantages claimed for 
the study of the Latin and Greek languages are : That 
there can be no complete or broad learning except through 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 101 

these brandies, which have been honored by the use of 
centuries in all the great schools of instruction, and have 
constituted a prominent agency in the culture of edu- 
cated men for many generations ; that a broad culture 
must embrace an acquaintance with the life and thought 
of antiquity ; that, by requiring patient and prolonged 
attention, they confer a severe mental discipline ; that 
the act of translating into the vernacular cultivates dis- 
crimination in the use of language ; that a familiar ac- 
quaintance with the ancient classics is necessary to an 
exact knowledge of all modern languages. 

Difficulties Encountered. — Admitting that a thor- 
ough acquaintance with the Greek and Latin languages 
and literature may be necessary to the widest learning, 
it may be objected, to their general use as branches of 
elementary study, that it is utterly impracticable in our 
schools to carry the study of these languages to such a 
point of thoroughness as will at all realize the results 
aimed at. 

A mere smattering of a language will not bestow 
the ability to enter into an acquaintance with its litera- 
ture. This objection would seem to offset all the ad- 
vantages named except two : the mental discipline re- 
sulting from the close attention required in the study 
of these languages, and the power of discrimination 
cultivated by the work of translation. 

Mental Discipline. — It must be admitted that the 
responsibility rests upon the true educator of selecting 
such studies for pupils as will give the highest develop- 
ment with the least possible waste. The question is 
not whether the classic languages are capable of con- 
ferring upon the student certain beneficial results, but 



102 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

whether these results are attainable, and whether these 
languages will produce them more economically than 
certain other branches. 

So far as mental discipline is concerned, including 
the habits of observation, of quick and accurate percep- 
tion, of severe attention, of close and patient reasoning, 
it may be doubted whether any branches are capable 
of more effective service than the natural sciences and 
mathematics. And in regard to the cultivation of spon- 
taneous mental energy, and a habit of original discovery, 
it will scarcely be denied that the natural sciences stand 
supreme. 

In acquiring the power of nice discrimination in the 
use of language, there can be no doubt that the pupil 
will be benefited by a careful drill in translating a for- 
eign language into his own tongue. But the question 
still remains, whether this result may not be accom- 
plished by the study of modern languages ; and whether 
a sufficient mastery of language may not be obtained 
for understanding and expressing all the thoughts 
ever born into the world, and even for giving the 
nicest and most delicate shades of meaning, by the 
study of our own vernacular. The language of Shake- 
speare, Milton, and Blackstone has powers and capaci- 
ties which render it inferior to no tongue ever spoken 
by man. 

Schiller's Opinion. — Apropos to the value of trans- 
lating for the purpose of gaining power in the ver- 
nacular, the German poet Schiller said to a friend, 
who asked him whether he read Shakespeare in Eng- 
lish : " My business in life is to write German ; and I 
am convinced that a person cannot read much in a for- 



RELATIVE VALUE OF INSTRUCTION. 103 

eign language without losing that delicate tact in the 
perception of the power of words which is essential to 
good writing." 

Summary in Regard to Language. — From the 
foregoing discussion in regard to language we derive 
conclusions as follows : 

First : That language in its use, to a wide extent, 
is acquired incidentally, and that this acquisition begins 
at an early period of infancy, and continues through 
life. 

Second: That the study of language directly, whether 
in the form of grammar or of comparative philology, 
involves principles closely allied to mental philoso- 
phy, and hence belongs to the advanced course of 
instruction. 

Third : That the study of the vernacular leads most 
directly to the mastery of language, and hence should 
be made the basis of all linguistic study. 

Fourth : That the pursuit of the classic languages 
belongs to the professional rather than to the general 
course, and that classic study possesses no just claims to 
be considered the basis of modern education, or the ex- 
clusive means for the attainment of culture. 

Fifth : That to reverse the process here pointed 
out, and to make the study of language the basis of 
instruction, is to violate the laws of mental growth, 
to fill the mind with words instead of ideas, and to 
form habits of expending so much force in verbal 
criticism as to overlook the weightier matter of the 
character and truth of the statement which the lan- 
guage contains. 



104 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Sixth : That literature, the highest product of lan- 
guage, should receive continued attention throughout 
the whole school course. 

General Summary. — The conclusions in regard to 
the relative value of the different branches of instruc- 
tion may be briefly stated as follows : 

First : That real knowledge is demanded for both 
mental development and practical use ; that the branches 
most valuable for mental development are those that 
enter most extensively into the affairs of life ; that the 
order to be pursued in promoting the normal growth of 
the mind exactly conforms to the order of the presenta- 
tion of the sciences founded upon dependence ; and that 
the methods found to be most efficacious in arousing 
the faculties are the best calculated to unfold the truths 
of science. 

Second : That the kind of knowledge best adapted 
to the promotion of the two great ends of education is 
that which lies nearest to us, which foices itself most 
strongly upon our notice, and which excites the great- 
est interest in the mind when attention has been directed 
to it. From that which is nearest and can be most 
easily known, the mind passes outward to the more re- 
mote, abstract, and unknown. 

Third : That in the true course of study the natural 
sciences will serve as a basis ; that language for ex- 
pression will accompany every step in acquisition ; that 
the mathematics will be coordinated with the concrete 
sciences ; that the humanities will come in to complete 
the course ; and that language as a science will be rele- 
gated to the advanced course. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PESTALOZZI. 

Schools of the Olden Time. — Up to the time of the 
Reformation the common people of Europe were in a 
state of abject ignorance in regard to the elements gener- 
ally considered as belonging to education. Reading and 
writing were accomplishments monopolized by the higher 
classes, and by no means universal even among them. 
The higher education was in the control of the priest- 
hood, and was administered almost exclusively in the 
interest of the Church. Common schools, in which the 
whole body of the people had a rightful participation, 
were not only unknown, but an idea so revolutionary to 
the existing order of society had scarcely ever entered 
the consciousness of the most advanced thinkers. 

Effect of Printing tipon Education. — The invention 
of printing, and the circumstances that followed the great 
protest against authority, resulted in a wide demand for 
schools in which reading should be taught. By slow 
degrees such schools were established, and in the most 
enlightened parts of Europe they became quite common. 

Care of the Schools. — These schools naturally fell 

into the care of the priesthood, in both Catholic and 

(105) 



106 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Protestant countries, in part from the force of habit, 
and in part because the priests constituted the only class 
who had sufficient education to manage them. The 
course of instruction in these schools embraced the al- 
phabet, the elements of reading, the catechism, the 
memorizing of a certain number of maxims and rules, 
and sometimes writing. The whole of this instruction 
was of the most mechanical kind, and no attempt was 
made to develop the understanding of the pupil, or to 
give him that knowledge which would be of practical 
use in his future work. 

Teachers Employed. — The teachers of these schools, 
apart from the priests, were usually selected not on ac- 
count of their fitness for teaching, but because they 
were fit for nothing else. Soldiers who had lost a limb 
in battle, persons disabled by accident, and superannu- 
ated old men and women who were likely to become a 
public burden as paupers, were often chosen for teachers. 
In this manner ignorance came to the aid of routine, 
and reduced the value of instruction to its minimum. 

Value of Learning to Bead. — To a peasantry in a 
state of vassalage, who have no interest in the soil they 
till, whose labor is at the mercy of others, and who in 
consequence often suffer for the common necessaries of 
life, the mere ability to read is the veriest mockery. 
The training of the schools afforded no such intelligence 
as leads to the improvement of one's condition ; and the 
ability to understand the printed page was of little value 
where there were no books to read and no leisure to 
spend in reading. Such an acquisition is poor comfort 
to a person destitute of clothing, and suffering from 
hunger. 



PESTALOZZI. 107 

Schools for the common people, wherever established 
in Europe, were substantially in the condition described, 
until about the commencement of the present century. 
The ruling classes seemed to regard the common people 
as proper materials for soldiers to extend conquests, or for 
subjects to be taxed ; and the last idea that could enter 
their minds was that these people were human beings, 
with all the rights and inborn capacities of other human 
beings, and that, therefore, they were entitled to the 
best education which the age could give. 

Ideal Schools. — Rousseau, the French philosopher, in 
some of his speculations concerning man and his destiny, 
gave an outline of an ideal state of society, where in- 
telligence and justice should take the place of ignorance 
and selfishness. Prominent among the philanthropic 
schemes of this dreamy philosopher was a system of 
universal education, by which every one could obtain 
that knowledge which would be of most worth to him 
in bettering his own condition, and in contributing to 
the general welfare of society. 

Pestalozzi's Cakeer. — Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi 
was then a young man, residing in his native city 
Zurich, in Switzerland. His attention was attracted to 
Rousseau's writings, and they produced a deep impres- 
sion upon his mind. He had become painfully aware 
of the ignorance and degradation of the common people 
of his native country, and the speculations of Eousseau 
seemed to give him the key to a method by which their 
condition might be improved. The circumstances of 
his own life had made him extremely sensitive to the 
injustice and absurdity of the divisions of society into 
9 



108 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

castes, which gave to some special privileges, and with- 
held these same privileges from others. The impelling 
force that influenced his subsequent action was more a 
genuine hatred of tyranny and a belief in democracy 
than any consideration concerning the nature and method 
of education. 

Philanthropic Views. — His ideas of education were 
forced upon him in his endeavors to raise the condition 
of the common people, and these ideas came not in the 
shape of a perfected theory, but rather as the result of 
experiments born of the necessities and conditions of 
the hour. His special work grew out of philanthropy 
rather than philosophy ; but on this account, so far as it 
conforms to philosophic principle, it is all the more 
valuable. 

The Ideal reduced to Practice. — The educational 
problem that presented itself to the mind of Pestalozzi 
was, whether the ideal of Rousseau might not be made 
real. After deliberating upon the question, he resolved 
to make the experiment. He first ventured to write 
and publish short essays upon the subject. Afterward, 
he embodied his views upon home education in a story 
entitled " Leonard and Gertrude." This book created 
a great sensation throughout Switzerland and Germany, 
and the author at once found himself famous as a liter- 
ary man. 

Experiments at Neuhof. — He also endeavored to 
carry his theories of education into practice by estab- 
lishing a school at his farm at Neuhof. At this 
school he received juvenile delinquents from the city 
of Berne, where he undertook to eradicate their 
vicious propensities by a course of instruction and 



PESTALOZZI. 109 

moral training. This experiment was the forerunner 
of the modem reform-school, now constituting a part 
of the educational system in nearly all civilized coun- 
tries. 

The scheme proved a failure, partly from his want 
of organizing and administrative ability, partly from 
pecuniary mismanagement, and partly from his want of 
experience as a teacher. The failure of his experiment 
left him nearly bankrupt ; and at the age of fifty- three 
he found himself without profession, without money, 
and without employment. Judged by the ordinary 
standards of success, his life so far was a failure. 

Condition of the Country. — During the wars that 
followed the French Revolution, Switzerland was the 
battle-field of the powerful surrounding nations. With 
little or no interest in the results of the conflicts, she 
was made to suffer more than either of the contending 
parties. Her harvests were plundered, her houses in- 
vaded, and, in some of the cantons, the larger part of 
the male population was carried away by the invaders. 
Women and children were left with no means of sus- 
tenance, and without shelter for their heads. 

School at Stanz. — In 1798, the little canton of Md- 
walden, at the southern extremity of Lake Luzerne, in- 
curred the enmity of the French, and, in consequence, 
was invaded by a French army ; the whole country was 
made desolate, and every village except the little ham- 
let of Stanz was burned. The sufferings of the house- 
less women and children were very great, and measures 
of relief were immediately instituted in the more pros- 
perous cantons. Here was an opportunity for Pestalozzi, 
who at once volunteered to go to Stanz and take charge 



HO PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

of the children who might be collected there — the phil- 
anthropic people of Berne furnishing the nieans neces- 
sary for their subsistence. 

Condition of the School. — An old deserted convent 
was taken for the use of the school, and here Pestalozzi 
found one hundred homeless and almost naked children 
waiting his arrival. Straightway, with the means at his 
command, he prepared a kitchen, dining-room, and 
schoolroom. A large upper room was changed into a 
dormitory, where pupils and teachers slept together. 
With no means to buy books or apparatus of any kind, 
and in a room bare of everything save the rough benches, 
Pestalozzi commenced his work as a teacher. Necessity, 
with him, literally became the mother of invention. 
For want of books, the lessons were necessarily oral; 
and to gratify the awakened curiosity of the children, 
recourse was had to everything that could excite inter- 
est or afford instruction. 

Things and Representatives. — During his first ex- 
perience in teaching, it is related of Pestalozzi that, 
among other agencies, he made extensive use of pictures. 
One day he had occasion to refer to a ladder, but the 
picture required for illustration was mislaid, and could 
not be found. Seeing the perplexity of the teacher, 
one of the boys suggested that there was a ladder near 
the door which might be used in place of the picture. 
From this suggestion the idea for the first time dawned 
upon the mind of Pestalozzi that the things themselves 
were better than any representatives of them — when lo ! 
object-teaching was born into the world. 

Intellectual Success. — The success of the school at 
Stanz was so marked as to excite attention and admira' 



PESTALOZZL HI 

tion. It was found that the children were coming rap- 
idly to understand things, and that the attention which 
they bestowed upon objects accelerated rather than re- 
tarded their progress in reading and writing. They 
were also constantly interested in their work ; and study, 
which before had been an onerous task, was transformed 
into a delightful recreation. 

Moral Success. — The healthy intellectual stimulus 
afforded, together with the peculiar circumstances and 
conditions of the school, gave a decided impetus, also, 
to moral instruction ; and Pestalozzi found it a compara- 
tively easy task to inculcate those principles of justice 
and benevolence which he considered the final outcome 
of all true education. It is related that when Altdorf, 
a village in a neighboring canton, was consumed by 
fire, and a large number of children were rendered 
houseless, Pestalozzi laid the case before the school, 
when the pupils, with one voice, requested him to take 
charge of these children also, notwithstanding the fact 
that, by so doing, they themselves would be obliged to 
put up with insufficient rations and limited accommo- 
dations. 

School at Burgdorf. — About one year after the 
establishment of the school at Stanz, the canton was re- 
occupied by the French army, and the school was turned 
out, and consequently broken up, to make room for the 
soldiers. Immediately Pestalozzi applied for employ- 
ment as a teacher, and was sent to Burgdorf as an as- 
sistant in a school conducted upon the old routine sys- 
tem. His methods, however, were so revolutionary, that 
the principal of the school straightway took measures 
to have him dismissed. He next took a position in one 



112 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

of the lowest of the primary schools, at that time con- 
ducted by an old dame. Here his success was so strik- 
ing as to command the attention of the authorities, and, 
as a result, secured for him a place better fitted to his 
powers. In connection with able associates, he next 
opened a school in the deserted castle at Burgdorf, when, 
for the first time, he had an opportunity for a thorough 
test of his educational theories. This school continued 
for two years, and obtained great celebrity, both in 
Switzerland and Germany. 

School at Yverdon. — Owing to political changes, 
however, he was obliged to give up his castle, and for a 
time the school was suspended. In 1803 it was rees- 
tablished at Yverdon, on Lake NeufcMtel, where it 
continued twenty-two years, closing in 1825, two years 
before the death of its founder. The novelty of the 
teaching at Burgdorf and Yverdon soon attracted the 
attention of the principal educators of Switzerland, and 
the school became more famous than any other school 
of its time. Special students, appointed by different 
governments, and volunteers from every country in Eu- 
rope, flocked to Yverdon to become acquainted with the 
new methods ; and by these students the principles of 
Pestalozzi were carried back to their respective coun- 
tries, and extensively put into practice. These princi- 
ples at once obtained a stronger foothold in Germany 
than elsewhere ; but, to a greater or less extent, they 
modified the educational systems of the whole civilized 
world. 

Pestalozzian Principles. — As Pestalozzi has left 
no written code or authoritative resume of his prin- 



PESTALOZZI. 113 

ciples, we must look for them in the spirit of his work, 
and in such fragmentary statements as we find scattered 
throughout his writings. 

Order in Mental Growth. — The first and most fun- 
damental principle in all his work is, that the mental 
powers are unfolded in definite order, and that true in- 
struction must be that which is intelligently adapted to 
each stage of mental growth, and directly tends to pro- 
mote the next step of development. This principle, 
almost utterly ignored up to the time of Pestalozzi, is 
now generally admitted by educators, and is progres- 
sively becoming more and more the corner-stone of edu- 
cation. 

Home-Education. — Among the means necessary for 
elevating the common people in intelligence and mo- 
rality, one of the first that forced itself upon the atten- 
tion of Pestalozzi was the importance and necessity of 
a thorough home-education. Indeed, in the develop- 
ment of his own ideas of education, this feature took 
precedence of all others. From actual observation, he 
saw, so frequently and so generally, that children at 
home were not only neglected in regard to their phys- 
ical and moral needs, but that their naturally right in- 
stincts were perverted, and their whole nature demoral- 
ized, by bad examples and improper training, that he 
concluded that all effectual efforts at reform must begin 
at home. 

The Influence of Mothers. — In all his earlier writ- 
ings, his aim seemed to be to impress upon mothers the 
idea that they alone had power, through their influence 
at home, to work the needed reforms in society. He 
showed how susceptible children at an early age are to 



114 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

good influences, and in what manner these influences 
could be exercised to the best advantage. The mother 
has almost unlimited power over the child for the first 
few years of its existence, during which period habits 
are formed which go far to control action through life. 
It is all-important that, in this susceptible and formative 
period, all selfish propensities should be suppressed, and. 
all good impulses stimulated. Indeed, neglect or mis- 
direction at this period can never be compensated by 
subsequent education. Efforts to change the conduct 
of adults, who have grown up in ignorance and with 
slovenly and vicious habits, are usually entirely wasted, 
or the results produced are very insignificant when com- 
pared with the efforts put forth. 

Mistakes in Application. — While this philosophy in 
regard to the importance of home-education and the in- 
fluence of mothers was correct, Pestalozzi soon found 
that he had made a mistake in its application. True 
home-education can only be given by mothers who have 
themselves been truly educated. While the motherly 
instinct may be relied upon as sufficient to supply the 
child with the most common of the physical necessities, 
in all mental and moral work the mother must be guided 
by an enlarged intelligence. The love for the child 
will supply the motive, but this love must be supple- 
mented by a knowledge of what constitutes the highest 
welfare of the child, and what means are best adapted 
to secure this welfare. To expect such results from 
mothers who themselves are neglected and misdirected 
at home, and who have no opportunity to correct their 
early impressions by education, would be absurd. " Do 
men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? " 



PESTALOZZI. 1X5 

Education of Mothers. — The third great principle 
which may be considered as Pestalozzian is, that moth- 
ers should be educated. In consequence of the momen- 
tous results involved, this education should be as ex- 
tended and complete as possible. Since the work of the 
mother is to shape the future destiny of the child, the 
whole well-being of society depends upon the intelli- 
gence with which this work is executed. The work in- 
volves principles of the most complex character pertain- 
ing to mental phenomena and to human relations ; and 
the education of the mother must of necessity be incom- 
plete unless it includes the facts upon which these prin- 
ciples rest. This view of the nature of woman's work, 
and of the preparatory culture necessary to the highest 
performance of that work, sets aside at once and forever 
all those contracted views of woman's sphere and edu- 
cation which are so frequently urged with an air of 
great profundity and wisdom. 

Study of Children. — The next important principle 
of Pestalozzi is, that the teacher should make the child 
the subject of profound and careful study. "While the 
general principles of mental philosophy derived from 
the aggregate study of mind will serve as a guide to 
general courses of instruction, a special study of the 
peculiarities of each child is necessary as a guide to the 
intelligent adaptation of general means to particular 
cases. Some of the most important changes now going 
on in education may be directly traced to the applica- 
tion of this principle. 

Training of Imbeciles. — In no other department of 
instruction is the necessity of the study of each individ- 
ual so apparent as in the education of imbeciles. The 



116 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

minds of these unfortunates differ from those of ordi- 
nary children chiefly in being more sluggish in action. 
All the ordinary appliances of education fail to arouse 
the dormant powers into activity. By a careful series 
of experiments, and by patient investigation which has 
continued through years, it has been found that the 
agencies necessary to be used in these cases differ from 
ordinary instruction, principally in the length of each 
step, and in the number of times each idea must be re- 
peated. The results of these experiments have shown 
that imbeciles usually are susceptible of improvement ; 
and they have also determined, with a degree of accu- 
racy before unknown, the successive steps necessary in 
all primary instruction. 

Experience the Basis. — The fifth principle is, that 
all school-work should be founded upon the actual expe- 
rience of the child. To this end the exercises of the 
schoolroom should conform as much as possible to mat- 
ters which interest the child out of school, and all in- 
struction given should start from that which is already 
possessed. Much of the earliest instruction of the school 
will be to enlarge this experience by making vague notions 
more definite, and by showing relations between things 
which were before undiscovered. These exercises are 
also necessary to a thorough understanding of the sub- 
ject — a result which Pestalozzi considered of cardinal 
importance. 

Object- Teaching. — In all the works of the great re- 
former there is nothing more distinctly shown than that 
the systematic study of things should precede that of 
books. In popular estimation this is the most distinctive 
Pestalozzian principle of all. That the observing powers 



PESTALOZZI. 117 

should be trained to perceive by exercise upon real ob- 
jects, and that the office of books is to supplement the 
knowledge gained by personal experience, may be gath- 
ered not only from the writings of this author, but from 
the manner in which the schools at Burgdorf and Yver- 
don were conducted, and from the exercises of all the 
schools which have since been founded upon these 
models. 

In another chapter we have shown the necessity of 
object-teaching, and the place such teaching should oc- 
cupy in a school course. 

Practical Objections. — Pestalozzi and his followers 
have been censured for having made too much of per- 
sonal experience, and of having given too much promi- 
nence to object-teaching. There is, probably, an ele- 
ment of truth in this criticism, but the mistake was al- 
most a necessary consequence of the circumstances of 
the case, and was but the exaggeration of a step in the 
right direction. From the system which ignored expe- 
rience and made little or no account of understanding 
the subject, the reaction in favor of rational methods 
was violent. The rote-system was exploded ; and as this 
system was founded upon books exclusively, it was but 
natural that the books should have been regarded as part 
of the discarded system, and that they should have been 
undervalued in the revision of the course of instruction 
which followed. To personal experience, which is in- 
dispensable as forming the basis of all knowledge, was 
assigned too high a place, and too little importance was 
attached to the knowledge which comes from the expe- 
rience of others. These mistakes, incidental to all im- 
provements in educational processes, are corrected by 



118 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

larger experiences, while the good resulting from the 
change remains as a permanent acquisition to the means 
of promoting human welfare. 

Conduct and Character. — One of the ideas of edu- 
cation Pestalozzi made most prominent was, that all ex- 
ercises should tend to promote good conduct on the part 
of the pupil, and that education was a failure unless it 
culminated in the formation of habits of good conduct. 
Intelligence he deemed valuable chiefly as it promoted 
morality. In his writings and practice he constantly 
enforced these ideas. The manner of conducting school 
exercises so as to lead to good conduct — a method directly 
resulting from Pestalozzi's principles — will be considered 
in the chapter upon Moral Teaching. 

Growth of the System. — Many of the experiments 
instituted by Pestalozzi and his disciples, to put these 
principles in practice, have proved failures. The whole 
system is so exactly opposite to the old, in its aim and 
methods, that it has been difficult at once to determine 
the means that shall best express and exemplify the new 
ideas. Teachers educated under the old methods find 
(t exceedingly hard to overcome their former habits ; and 
although they may be convinced in theory, their practice 
changes slowly. But by almost imperceptible degrees 
the new ideas obtain a foothold and are consolidated into 
system, resulting finally in a complete revolution, which 
will substitute intelligent investigation for mechanical 
routine in every field of human thought and endeavor. 



CHAPTEK YIIL 

FROEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Fruit of Pestalozzi's Principles. — The impulse 
which the works and experiments of Pestalozzi gave to 
education did not expend itself in mere imitation. The 
principles enunciated needed verification, and, in the 
broad field of education, they were to be applied in 
numberless ways, of which their author was probably 
entirely unconscious. This necessity gave rise to new 
experiments, and in some cases led to new and impor- 
tant discoveries. 

Education through Work. — Among the ideas first 
promulgated by Pestalozzi was that a very considerable 
portion of true education might be obtained through 
work, and that kind of work which constitutes the ordi- 
nary vocation of the individual. In his first experi- 
ments at Neuhof with his juvenile criminals, he en- 
deavored to carry this idea into practical execution, but 
without success. In his subsequent experiments, from 
the condition and circumstances of his school, this idea 
was subordinated to others which were forced upon his 
attention, and was never fully developed. 

Agricultural Schools. — Yon Fellenberg, a contem- 
(119) 



120 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

porary and friend of Pestalozzi, deeply impressed with 
this idea, instituted a series of experiments which re- 
sulted in his establishing a school of agriculture, where 
the work of the farm was performed by the students 
while attending to their studies. The work itself was 
found to be one of the most efficient of the means of 
improvement, and the pupils left the school not only 
fully instructed in the various branches of study, but 
with a minute and comprehensive knowledge of one or 
more of the industrial occupations, and, above all, with 
muscles trained to the performance of the work neces- 
sary to be done in the wide field of industry. 

The success of Yon Fellenberg in his little Swiss 
farm was so complete, that his plans were extensively 
copied in France and Germany, and afterward in the 
other countries of Europe, and in the United States. 
The agricultural schools now supported by most of the 
civilized nations are the direct offspring of Yon Fellen- 
berg's experiments ; and the technical and trade schools 
have indirectly proceeded from the same source. 

Limitation of these Schools. — In these agricultural, 
technical, and trade schools, the principle of thought- 
expression through muscular action was made practical, 
but the work was confined chiefly to the higher schools. 
The German trade schools take pupils at the age of 
fourteen, or after they have mastered the seven years' 
primary course. Most of the technical schools did not 
receive pupils until some years later. 

The Work of Feoebel. — It was left to Froebel, an 
eminent German teacher, to apply the same principle 
to the training of children. From personal observation 



FROEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 121 

and study, he became thoroughly convinced that one of 
the principal causes of evil conduct was the wrong di- 
rection or bias given to the mind of the child in its ear- 
liest years. By a vicious system of home instruction, 
afterwards supplemented by an equally mischievous 
system of school-training, he saw that natural and inno- 
cent instincts and inclinations were constantly thwarted, 
and the mind forced out of the path which Nature 
pointed out as the most direct course to excellence, and 
into the way sanctioned by fashion, custom, or caprice. 
As a result of this false education, he saw natural ac- 
tivities smothered at their birth, and possibilities of use- 
ful life materially diminished. 

Philanthropic Motives. — As in the case of Pesta- 
lozzi, the study and experiments of Froebel seemed to 
spring from an intense desire to benefit the human race, 
and from the conviction that measures of reform must 
commence while the mind is in its most plastic state. 
He had but little faith in measures designed to improve 
and reform those who had grown to maturity in igno- 
rance, and with whom ill-conduct had become a rigid 
habit. 

Froebel accepted the principles laid down by Pesta- 
lozzi without hesitation. These principles, he saw, 
were designed to bring instruction into harmony with 
Nature, and he set about devising means by which such 
harmony could be fully realized. He confined his ex- 
periments largely to young children, and for their in- 
struction he devised the methods now known as the 
kindergarten system. 

Development of the Kindergarten. — The word kin- 
dergarten literally means a place where children are 



122 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

cultivated. FroebePs plan was to collect a number of 
young children and place them in such conditions that 
their own free and spontaneous acts would, in a large 
measure, contribute to their full development. The 
teacher's work was simply direction — taking care that 
the natural activities of the child always had an oppor- 
tunity for free expression, and in the proper direction. 

FroebePs success was so great, that a large number 
of teachers became converted to his methods, and kin- 
dergartens were established not only throughout Ger- 
many, but they have been introduced extensively into 
most of the civilized countries of the world. 

Obscurity of Expression. — Like many other reform- 
ers and originators of great schemes, Froebel was far 
from being clear in the enunciation of the principles 
upon which his work was founded. His insight into 
the nature of children, and his ability to provide the 
appliances necessary for each step of their advancement, 
were far in advance of his ability to formulate his work 
upon a philosophic basis and give it full expression. He 
seemed also to have imbibed, at an early period, certain 
mystical metaphysical notions, which gave a bias to his 
thinking, and caused him to clothe his thoughts in ob- 
scure phraseology. 

Kindergarten Principles. — From the spirit of his 
work, and from the practices common to kindergartens 
generally, we find that the following principles serve as 
a guide to this system of instruction : 

Inherited Powers and Tendencies. — Every child is 
born with capacities and traits which are inherited from 
its ancestry. These traits give general direction to 



FROEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 123 

thought and conduct, but they may be materially 
changed by education. A naturally good disposition 
may be ruined by a false system of education, while 
evil traits may be nearly, or quite, overcome by a ju- 
dicious education. The education of one generation 
appears as an inherited tendency in the next. 

This principle completely overthrows that philoso- 
phy which insists that the mind is a blank paper upon 
which the educator may write what he pleases ; and it 
is equally fatal to the opposite philosophy, that education 
can do little or nothing toward changing natural tenden- 
cies. Froebel shows that the truth lies between these 
extremes, and that human progress depends upon the 
fact that inherited traits may be changed by education, 
and that the results of this education may, in turn, be 
transmitted by inheritance. Examples of the inherit- 
ance of qualities are seen in the history of every nation, 
and of nearly every family. The successive generations 
of the Hebrews were always noted for their deep re- 
ligious fervor, the Greeks for their love of beauty, and 
the Romans for their power of social organization. Per- 
sonal peculiarities, in like manner, are transmitted in 
families. Through successive generations in the same 
family line, we find a general love of learning ; in 
another, a love of gain ; and in still another, a general 
indolence, which prevents either physical or mental im- 
provement. In intellectual families, the form of scholar- 
ship may, in like manner, be transmitted — one showing 
a taste for the classics, another for natural history and 
kindred branches. 

Education should Commence Early. — Education 
should begin at the earliest period of conscious existence. 
10 



124: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Everything that can make an impression upon the senses 
of the child, whether in the form of visible objects or 
tones of voice, becomes of importance as educational in- 
fluences. The mother at home, and the teacher at school, 
should so arrange these objects that the impressions 
conveyed will exactly respond to the power of the 
child most active at the time, and in such a way that 
each in its time will excite the deepest interest and leave 
the most permanent impression. 

Early impressions are most durable, and many a man 
has tried in vain to overcome evil habits contracted in 
childhood. This is especially true in regard to habits 
of speech. Again, by a proper attention to the char- 
acter and order of the impressions made upon the mind 
of the child, a large amount of knowledge can be gained 
incidentally and unconsciously, thereby saving the time 
and effort which would be needed in acquiring the same 
knowledge at a later period. This early education, how- 
ever, is possible only through the efforts of thoroughly 
educated mothers, and all that teachers can do is to sup- 
plement the instruction commenced in the nursery. 

In regard to this subject, Herbert Spencer says : 
" Whoever has watched with any discernment the wide- 
eyed gaze of the infant at surrounding objects, knows 
very well that education does begin thus early, whether 
we intend it or not ; and that these fingerings and suck- 
ings of everything it can lay hold of, these open- 
mouthed listenings to every sound, are the first steps in 
the series which ends in the discovery of unseen planets, 
the invention of calculating engines, the production of 
great paintings, or the composition of symphonies and 
operas. The activity of the faculties from the first be- 



FROEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 125 

ing spontaneous and inevitable, the question is, whether 
we shall supply in due variety the materials on which 
they may exercise themselves ; and to the question so 
put, none but an affirmative answer can be given." 

Education based on Self -Activity. — The educa- 
tion of children should be based upon self -activity. 
The needs of every child give rise to desires, and the 
desires to activities of some kind. A philosophic sys- 
tem of education will look through these activities to 
the needs which they represent, and will so direct them 
that, while they excite present interest and gratify pres- 
ent desire, they will also contribute to intellectual and 
moral growth and to the future and permanent well- 
being of the child. 

The lowest manifestations of activity are those of 
mere physical motion ; but these are necessary to secure 
that control over the muscles which is requisite to self- 
support and self -protection, and which must precede in- 
tellectual growth. The curiosity of children, manifested 
in their desire to handle objects, to open boxes and 
drawers, and to break playthings, is but an indication of 
their endeavor to convert vague and unsatisfactory no- 
tions into distinct ideas. Yon Fellenberg says : " Expe- 
rience has taught me that indolence in young persons is 
so directly opposite to their natural disposition to activ- 
ity, that, unless it is the consequence of a bad educa- 
tion, it is almost immediately connected with some con- 
stitutional defect." 

Spontaneous Activity, or Play. — The child must be 
left free to show its activities and express its desires. 
This freedom is best manifested in play, which is free 
activity gratifying desires, and, when not perverted, the 



126 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

instinctive and unconscious manner in which well-being 
is promoted. It also includes the first deeds of the 
child, in endeavoring to supply its own needs and to 
give pleasure to others. 

Play, which has been defined as the poetry of child- 
hood, may always be considered as an activity which, in 
some way, ministers to needs, and it is a guide to the 
teacher in determining what are the needs that require 
the most attention at the time. It is also a potent 
force to be used in the work of education. But, to this 
end, the plays must be so arranged and systematized 
that the child will always find the variety of nature, and 
each play in its turn will be instrumental in furnishing 
him with new ideas, and leading him to higher activities. 

School Exercises should give Pleasure. — Whatever 
gives pleasure to children generally and at all times, al- 
ways serves to promote their development in some way. 
This statement is not only the enunciation of a great 
truth, but one entirely antagonistic to the old system of 
education, which held that study was valuable in pro- 
portion as it was distasteful, and that culture was to be 
sought in thwarting, rather than in gratifying, natural 
inclinations. 

The converse of this proposition is also true. What- 
ever is distasteful to children generally, and whatever is 
performed as mere task-work, is of but little worth in 
promoting the true development of the child. Much 
of the work which forms the staple of school instruc- 
tion at the present day is of this character. Reading- 
lessons that children cannot comprehend; the memo- 
rizing of the words of a text-book ; the beginning of a 
subject by learning definitions instead of facts ; the pre- 



FROEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 127 

mature study of grammar ; the reasoning processes of 
mental arithmetic at too early a period ; the spelling and 
defining of words largely in advance of their use — all 
illustrate this distasteful work, and all are examples of 
waste both of time and effort. 

Caution. — This proposition, however, must not be 
taken as meaning that all desires of children are to be 
gratified, or that such desires are always prompted by 
real needs. A great variety of unnecessary desires may 
arise from inheritance, or from false impressions made 
very early in life. It is only when wide investigations 
are made, extending over considerable time, that teach- 
ers can distinguish unerringly between the manifesta- 
tions of spurious and real needs. 

Physical and Mental Activity combined. — Educa- 
tion, as much as possible, should connect every step of 
instruction with some kind of bodily activity. As the 
hand is the chief instrument of work, it should be 
specially trained to perform quickly and accurately all 
the motions needed in the ordinary affairs of life. This 
training of the hand to do, while training the mind to 
think, is one of the most distinctive features of the 
kindergarten system. Indeed, it is beginning to be ap- 
parent that the most effective way to produce the think- 
ing is through work actually performed by the hand — 
the case being analogous to that of getting the use of 
tools by the performance of real work with the tools, 
rather than by the study of the tools themselves. In 
another respect, this training of the hand is of immense 
benefit in mental development. The mind thinks, and 
the will executes. As the mind makes use of the brain 
for thinking, the brain must be trained to perform its 



128 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

function in the most effective manner possible ; and as 
the will makes extensive nse of the hand in executing, 
the hand must be trained to execute the mandate of the 
will in the most effective manner possible. 

The effect of this training of the hand is, first, to 
make the mental impressions deeper and more lasting ; 
secondly, to greatly increase the interest of every sub- 
ject by the discovery of relations which would other- 
wise be undiscovered; and thirdly, by bringing the 
hand under such perfect control, that in all subsequent 
time it will be immediately and effectually responsive 
to the will. 

The means taken for this training are the successive 
use of objects, which the pupil not only sees but han- 
dles ; the use of blocks in building, accompanied by in- 
struction in regard to the methods of building ; play in 
sand, and modeling in clay with purpose in view ; draw- 
ing, both inventive and imitative ; and the gradual use 
of mechanical tools that are needed in the various occu- 
pations. 

Harmonious Development of all the Powers. — The 
next fundamental principle of Froebel is, that the whole 
nature of the child needs instruction and training from 
the very first. "While he fully recognizes the impor- 
tance of order and time in educational processes, he claims 
that a symmetrical and harmonious development of all 
the powers demands that each one shall receive attention 
in proportion to its present activity, and in such a man- 
ner as to promote its normal growth. 

The Schools demanded oy these Principles. — The 
system of education which is devised to carry this prin- 
ciple into practice must provide for physical growth and 



FKOEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 129 

well-being, by .the careful training of every muscle in 
the body, and the special training of the hand ; for the 
gradual development of the mental faculties in the order 
pointed out by Pestalozzi ; for moral culture, by all pos- 
sible incentives to well-doing ; and for aesthetic culture, 
which shall develop taste and lead to an appreciation 
and creation of the beautiful. The final outcome of 
this fourfold system is the full possession of physical 
health and strength, and a distinct recognition of the 
true, the good, and the beautiful, as guiding our actions 
and as completing our lives. 

Practical Kindergarten "Work. — Kindergarten 
instruction should commence at the age of three years. 
The children are brought together in a pleasant room, 
where are collected the appliances necessary for all 
their varied plays. Care should be taken that the objects 
are not in such profusion as to distract attention and pro- 
duce uneasiness. In Froebel's opinion, nothing can be 
more fatal to intellectual stimulus than the great quanti- 
ty of toy-rubbish with which children are often supplied. 

The hind of play in which each pupil engages is de- 
termined by his own inclination, somewhat guided by 
the teacher. 

The method of play is suggested by the teacher, and 
the play is so controlled that it teaches an important les- 
son. In this way, literally, all play becomes work, and 
all work becomes play, 

Original Worh. — The work is so conducted, also, 
that the teacher tells but little, leaving the pupil to dis- 
cover the needed truth, and so leading to the develop- 
ment of creative energy. This last result is obtained 



130 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

largely through the process of inventive drawing, and 
the hand-work in which the child is constantly engaged. 

Singing. — In the kindergarten, singing is one of the 
conspicuous agencies used in the promotion of aesthetic 
culture, the rhythm of sound and motion being consid- 
ered of prime importance. The songs selected, both in 
regard to their words and their music, are simple, and 
such as the experience of the world has shown to be of 
interest to children. The delight of children in the 
melodies of Mother Goose affords a key to the nature 
of the songs which are best adapted to the kindergarten 
methods. 

" Playing in the Dirt" — The love which children 
h&ye for playing in the sand is turned to good account 
in the kindergarten in the teaching of form and of quan- 
tity ; and their love for making " little dirt-pies " is 
directed to systematic modeling in clay. There is no 
manifestation of childish interest that is not or may not 
be made profitable in devising systems of instruction. 

The Law of Order. — In the world of mind and mat- 
ter Froebel saw the evidences of infinite order, which 
must be obeyed in all processes of instruction. In the 
language of one of his most distinguished disciples, " he 
made the eternal archetypes of Nature the playthings 
of childhood, and the mutual relations and combinations 
which Nature employs in her secret workshop, the 
child's laws and rules of play." 

Study of the System. — The study of the details of 
the kindergarten system cannot fail of being a benefit 
to every teacher. Although the work as a whole may 
not be adapted to the condition and circumstances of 
the community where he is engaged, the full elucida- 



FROEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 131 

tion of the methods employed are suggestive of a thou- 
sand expedients calculated to interest and improve 
almost any grade of schools. By the study of these 
methods, also, the principles upon which they are found- 
ed are much more readily understood and appreciated. 
This desirable information will be found in any of the 
kindergarten manuals which are published in various 
parts of the country. 

The Kindergarten at St. Louis. — The kindergarten 
system has been more thoroughly tried at St. Louis than 
elsewhere in this country. Under the intelligent direc- 
tion of Mr. William T. Harris, the philosophic superin- 
tendent of the city schools, the experiment has been 
made of connecting kindergarten instruction with the 
public schools. This experiment raised many questions 
concerning the system itself, and the modifications it 
needs to adapt itself to the necessities of American 
schools. From a late report of Mr. Harris we make the 
following extract : 

Necessity of Study and Experiment. — " While it is 
probable that the kindergarten may require modifica- 
tions to adapt it to American educational needs, it is not 
at all certain wherein or how much, until its aims and 
methods have been studied, and practical experiments 
have been instituted. It may be that only slight changes 
are required to adapt it to our system — changes relating 
to arrangements of furniture, length of session, age of ad- 
mission, etc. It may be that modifications of the inner 
nature of the system — its psychological idea — may be 
required to adapt it to American wants. Experiment 
will doubtless evolve, one after the other, the practical 
and theoretical problems, and discover the best solutions. 



132 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Scope of Education. — " It is conceded that education 
includes very much more than the province of the 
school. The stage of nurture includes first the physical 
care of the child and the training of body ; next the 
formation of habits in harmony with the customs and 
usages of civilized life. His eating and drinking, and 
other personal habits, must be those of humanity, and 
not those of natural impulse — those of animals. From 
the first the child begins to use his senses as instruments 
for obtaining knowledge. His growing power is watched 
anxiously by the family, and his efforts are stimulated 
and encouraged. He acquires, in this way, a most im- 
portant stock of theoretical ideas, as well as command 
of the use of his senses and of language, the most impor- 
tant of all instruments, before he conies under the in- 
fluence of the school. 

Scope of the Kindergarten. — " The kindergarten 
proposes to invade this realm of nurture ; to systemize 
it, from the cradle onward to the school. The mother 
shall substitute conscious, rational action for whim and 
caprice in the management of her child, and shall watch 
over the orderly development of the faculties of her 
child, as a scientific gardener watches over the develop- 
ment of plants in his garden. Froebel proposed to have 
this realm of nurture transformed into systematic cult- 
ure, embracing provinces — physical, mental, and moral. 
He proposed to do this in such a way as to preserve all 
the sweetness of childhood, and to stimulate and encour- 
age its spontaneity. 

Delicate Adjustments. — " Here was the great point 
in Froebel's success. He overcame seeming impossi- 
bilities, by adopting a method which could be put in 



FROEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN. 133 

practice without injury to the spontaneity of childhood, 
while it really disciplined the child's will into rational 
forms. This delicate point is at once the greatest merit 
of Froebel, and the ground of the greatest danger for 
those who attempt to carry it out in practice. It is still 
more dangerous for those who attempt to modify Froe- 
bel and naturalize it in other countries. Lacking a full 
insight into the problem, and consequently misunder- 
standing Froebel' s intentions, in the order and make-up 
of his gifts, it frequently happens that modifications are 
proposed which utterly lack the delicate adjustment of 
Froebel. If carried out, they would permanently injure 
the development of individuality in the child, and pro- 
duce a stunted character. Froebel himself goes almost 
to the edge of this matter : it is easy to go over the edge. 
Philosophy Involved. — " Momentous questions must 
be settled in psychology before one can fully appreciate 
how wisely Froebel has planned, or how dangerous it is 
for his followers to depart from his footsteps without a 
full insight into the subject. There are deeper grounds 
than mere national ones, important though the latter 
may be. There is human nature in general, and the 
law of its unfolding — common to all civilized nations. 
"What is common to civilized nations, however, is not 
shared by half -civilized nations, for they interfere with 
the development of individuality at a far earlier stage 
than civilized nations do, and purposely dwarf its 
growth. Civilized nations differ as to limits imposed ; 
but all peoples who have set a constitutional limit to 
the caprice of their chief executive, allow individuality 
to develop to that degree that it discriminates its ra- 
tional from its arbitrary phase. 



134 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Questions to he Settled. — " Should caprice be tol- 
erated in any phase of the development of childhood ? 
Ought it not to be annihilated as soon as it appears ? Is 
it wise to rationalize the activity of childhood as soon 
as it begins % Is there not a danger in any systematic 
training of the child, that his will-power may become 
weakened by subordinating it to prescribed rules before 
it gets developed sufficiently \ Moreover, that question 
of too much stimulus at an early age is a serious one. 
"We all know that the children brought up in the city 
are over-excited from infancy by the multitude of ob- 
jects continually presented to their senses. In the 
country it is far otherwise. The difference between 
city-developed individuality and that of the country is 
very great as to depth and toughness. The alertness of 
the city intellect is purchased at a sacrifice of other 
qualities which are essential to fully-developed charac- 
ter. Questions like these deserve careful consideration 5J 



CHAPTEK IX. 

AGASSIZ; AND SCIENCE IN ITS RELATIONS TO 
EDUCATION. 

The Scope and End of Science. — In an article 
upon the " Culture demanded by Modern Life," Prof. 
Youmans says : " Science, in its true and largest mean- 
ing, is the right interpretation of Nature — a compre- 
hension of the workings of law wherever law prevails. 
It matters nothing whether the subjects are stones or 
stars, human souls, or complications of social relations ; 
the most perfect of each constitutes its special science, 
and the comprehensive view of the relations which each 
sustains to all realizes the highest idea of science." 

This definition at once elevates science out of the 
domain of mere materialism, and makes it comprehend 
every department of human thought. The "right in- 
terpretation of Nature " means the pursuit of truth in 
every field of research. It is not the subject-matter, 
but the positive knowledge of the subject, including 
both facts and inferences, that constitutes the science. 
The highest science is that which starts from the laws 
established by the special sciences, coordinates them all, 
and, by a process of higher inferences, arrives at the 

highest and most comprehensive laws. 

(135) 



136 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Philosophy and Utility. — In the ancient philoso- 
phies, a broad distinction was made between the prod- 
acts of reflection, or speculative thought, and those sub- 
jects which consider the common and daily needs of 
pien. The former alone were thought worthy of atten- 
tion, and scholars were encouraged to pursue truth and 
virtue for their own sake. The methods of these phi- 
losophies were also, to a great extent, those of specula- 
tion rather than investigation, and the value of the phys- 
ical sciences was quite underrated. This sentiment in 
regard to the nature of philosophic research continued 
down to periods comparatively modern. Bacon was the 
first philosopher to take distinct issue with this idea, and 
to proclaim that the true object of philosophic inquiry 
was "fruit," in the promotion of human welfare, and 
that the true method was the investigation and interpre- 
tation of Nature. 

The spirit of the old philosophies, to some extent, 
still survives, and scientific men of the present day ex- 
hort enthusiastic students " to pursue science for its own 
sake," and they frequently brand the idea of use as a 
mere " bread-and-butter consideration," beneath the no- 
tice of the true votary of science. * 

Prof. TyndaWs Opinion. — Prof. Tyndall, in his 
farewell speech at New York, uses the following lan- 
guage in regard to this question : " In the pursuit of 
science, the first worker is the investigator of natural 
truth, whose vocation it is to pursue that truth, and ex- 
tend the field of discovery for the truth's own sake, 
and without reference to practical ends." Again he 
says : " Keep your sympathetic eye on the originator of 
knowledge. Give him the freedom necessary for his 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 137 

researches, not demanding of him so-called practical re- 
sults. Above all things, avoid that question which ig- 
norance so often addresses to genius : ' What is the use 
of your work ? ' " These extracts show the persistence 
of philosophic notions, even after the systems of thought 
to which they were attached have been entirely super- 
seded. 

Another View. — Many of the most far-seeing think- 
ers of modern times do not share in this opinion of the 
ignoble nature, or secondary importance, of utility. They 
claim that the question " What use ? " is entirely legiti- 
mate when applied to any pursuit in which mankind 
can engage, and that the answer to this question, show- 
ing that the pursuit is useful or otherwise, is an infal- 
lible guide in determining whether it should be under- 
taken or not. The term " use," however, would not be 
restricted to any mere material consideration, but would 
be made to include all possible human needs, physical 
and spiritual. In this broad sense, use becomes the most 
powerful incentive to labor and investigation. A desire 
to reap personal advantage, or to benefit one's own fam- 
ily or kindred, or the broader philanthropy which con- 
siders the welfare of the whole human family, is a much 
stronger motive for action in any direction, than one 
which takes hold of the intellect but fails to reach the 
emotions. 

Prof. Huxley's Opinion. — In a lecture upon " Bi- 
ology," Prof. Huxley says : " I judge of the value of 
human pursuits by their bearing upon human inter- 
ests ; in other words, by their utility. Now, in an 
Englishman's mouth, it generally means that by which 
we get pudding, or praise, or both. I have no doubt 



138 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

that is one meaning of the word utility, but it by no 
means includes all I mean by utility. I think that 
knowledge of every kind is useful in proportion as it 
tends to give people right ideas, which are essential to 
the foundation of right practice, and to remove wrong 
ideas, which are the no less essential foundation and 
fertile mothers of every description of error in practice. 
And, upon the whole, inasmuch as this world is, after 
all, whatever practical people may say, absolutely gov- 
erned by ideas, and very often by the wildest and most 
hypothetical ideas, it is a matter of the greatest im- 
portance that our theories of things, and even of things 
that seem a long way apart from our daily lives, should 
be, as far as possible, true, and, as far as possible, re- 
moved from error. It is not only in the coarser, prac- 
tical sense of the word ' utility,' but in this higher and 
broader sense, that I measure the value of a study." 

Antagonisms Harmonized. — There seems to be no 
need of essential antagonism between those who would 
urge the importance of original investigation and those 
who demand that " fruit " to human welfare shall be the 
result of all investigation. From history we derive two 
essential facts bearing upon the subject. In the Middle 
Ages, when intellectual operations were purely specula- 
tive, ignoring alike Nature and human needs, the specu- 
lations themselves were valueless as reaching results in 
any of the realms of truth; and the vital force spent 
upon them was, in a great measure, wasted. On the 
other hand, since the time of Bacon, scientific investi- 
gation has been pursued in the spirit of utility, and 
there have resulted, not only increased comforts and hap- 
piness to man, but higher philosophic results in the re- 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 139 

gions of pure intellect and morals than the world has 
ever before seen. Intellectual speculation, divorced from 
humanity, results in visionary dreaming and in the de- 
struction of intellectual power. Intellectual investiga- 
tion, in the interests of humanity, reaches the loftiest 
heights of pure thought, and indefinitely increases in- 
tellectual power. 

From the facts of history, the "broad inference has 
been made that every discovery in the fields of physical, 
intellectual, or moral activity has been of use in estab- 
lishing a law, and the discovery of every law has di- 
rectly benefited man. ~No matter how useless the new 
truths appeared at the moment of discovery, in the end 
they were found useful as contributing in some way to 
human welfare. 

Incentive to Investigation. — This generalization be- 
comes an incentive and an inspiration to active scientific 
workers. "With the most implicit faith that any dis- 
coveries which he can make will be of use to the hu- 
man race, the student of science can now devote him- 
self to any branch of scientific research to which his 
taste may incline him. His answer to the question 
" What use ? " is ever ready in general terms, if not in 
specific details ; and there is no reason for either mis- 
representing the nature of utility, nor for ignoring it 
altogether. The great incentive to endeavor still re- 
mains ; and although he may never experience the di- 
rect benefit of his discoveries, in the certainty of their 
final utility, he may abandon himself to the pleasure of 
their pursuit, content to leave the richest fruit of his 
work to be gathered by those who come after him. 

It is seen from the foregoing that the true scientific 
11 



140 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

spirit constantly considers human welfare, and in this 
way indirectly promotes moral action. It seeks to find 
that which is true, in order to establish that which is 
good. The discovery of every new law, in the infinite 
order of the universe, becomes at once a new power to 
be used for human advancement, and a new incentive 
to human action. We have next to consider the methods 
which science uses most directly and effectually to ac- 
complish its work. 

Methods of Science. — The general method, as con- 
tained in the direction to investigate Nature closely and 
accurately, was laid down by Bacon. The successive 
steps in this investigation as now practised by scientific 
men are stated as follows by Prof. Huxley : 

First : Observation of Facts, including that artificial 
observation called experiment. 

Secondly : The process of tying up similar facts in 
bundles, ticketed ready for use, which is called com- 
parison and classification • the results of the process — 
the ticketed bundles — being named general propositions. 

Thirdly : Deduction, which takes us from the gen- 
eral proposition to facts again, teaches us to anticipate 
from the ticket what is in the bundle. 

Fourthly : Verification, which is the process of as- 
certaining whether in point of fact our anticipation is a 
correct one. 

Scientific Methods in Teaching. — It will be seen that 
the steps in this scientific method are substantially those 
which have previously been described in the chapters on 
Objective and Subjective Teaching. The experience of 
scientific men has shown that this is not only the most 
direct method of making new discoveries, but it is the 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. . 141 

only method by which positive and certain knowledge 
can be obtained, and made a permanent possession of 
the mind. The experience of teachers has also shown 
that these methods are the best and most direct for ac- 
complishing the objects of education — the acquisition of 
nseful knowledge, and the development of the mental 
faculties. The man of science and the educator, though 
starting from different points and traversing different 
routes, have arrived at the same results, the conclusions 
of the one strengthening and corroborating those of the 
other. 

Defects in Teaching which Science Remedies. — In 
the work of Pestalozzi, the subject-matter of the lessons 
given in the classes was of a fragmentary character ; and 
although it aroused the attention and trained the observ- 
ing powers, it often failed to show the relations of one 
lessen to another, and to give that connected chain of 
thought necessary to scientific reasoning. 

In the schools founded upon the Pestalozzian princi- 
ples, the same state of things is usually observed, the 
objects being chosen solely for their use in impressing 
the direct lesson of the hour, without considering the 
relation of the object to the other objects or facts in the 
same field of investigation or department of thought. 

Waking up Mind. — In the " Theory and Practice 
of Teaching " — one of the most valuable of all the con- 
tributions which this country has yet made to the lit- 
erature of teaching — the author, David P. Page, gives 
a most interesting sketch of a lesson upon an ear of 
corn, under the suggestive title of " Waking up Mind." 
This work was published in 1847, and the lesson in ques- 
tion was one of the first expositions of the nature and 



142 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

value of object-lessons ever made in this country. But 
Mr. Page died before lie could see the fruits which were 
to come by following out the principles involved in his 
model lesson. He probably little thought that the sug- 
gestion, which he regarded valuable only as breaking 
the monotony and tedium of the ordinary schoolroom 
routine, was destined to very nearly supersede that 
routine in primary schools ; and that all the work given 
to pupils would eventually be so arranged that each 
lesson would result in " waking up mind." 

Growth of the Scientific Principle. — The method 
so graphically described by Mr. Page has been largely 
adopted since the date of his writing, under the name 
of object-teaching, and its principles and limitations are 
now quite clearly understood. Meanwhile, science has 
become more and more systematic, and at last it is seen 
that the methods of science and the methods of educa- 
tion are identical. Science dealing with knowledge, 
and education dealing with development, move along the 
same routes ; and the apparent antagonism between the 
practical and the theoretical disappears. 

Many of the most prominent among the scientific 
men of the present century have taken deep interest in 
educational work, both for its special bearings upon 
science, and for its effects upon humanity at large. In 
the general change of educational methods they- have 
recognized the evidences of real progress ; and there has 
come to be a quite prevalent opinion that these changes 
should go on until our school courses include the subject- 
matter as well as the methods of science. 

Agassi^s Work. — Among those men of science who 
became specially interested in schools, none occupied a 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 143 

higher place than Prof. Louis Agassiz, the great nat- 
uralist. During the whole of his long and most hon- 
orable career as a man of science, while intent upon 
his special work, he ever sought to raise education out 
of its narrow formalism, and to infuse into it something 
of the spirit which animates the devotee of science. 
During the last years of his life, the educational value 
of science seemed to occupy his attention more and 
more ; and he so devoted his energies to this work, 
that he may be justly regarded as the great leader in 
the new educational reform. 

Early Life. — The early life of Agassiz eminently 
fitted him for this position. He was born upon the 
banks of Lake Neufchatel, in the northwest part of 
Switzerland. His early youth was passed amid the most 
noble and beautiful scenery in Europe. In his work on 
Pestalozzi, Prof. Krusi gives the following description 
of this lake and its vicinity : 

" To the west, the Jura Mountains extend in an un- 
broken chain, delightfully varied by pastures, forests, 
deep ravines, and masses of bare rock. From the sum- 
mits of these mountains the traveler looks down upon 
the tranquil lake beneath ; while to the south lies the 
wide valley, with all its variegated richness, bounded by 
the snow-clad Alps, from the centre of which towers the 
majestic summit of Mont Blanc. The valley is trav- 
ersed by the river Orbe, which, fed from an invisible 
lake above, rises suddenly from beneath a high rock, 
and lower down falls over a precipice." 

Love of Nature. — With such attractions around him, 
the peculiarly impressible mind of young Agassiz could 
scarcely fail of becoming enthusiastically in love with 



144 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Nature. Much of his time in early youth was spent 
upon the lake, or among the hills, not for the pur- 
poses of mere recreation, but for study. The fish he 
caught were lessons rather than food ; and at the age of 
eleven years, when he was sent to school, he was familiar 
with the names, appearance, and habits of all the finny 
tribe of Lake Neufchatel. 

Vacation Studies. — During his vacations he pur- 
sued, with intense enthusiasm, the other departments of 
natural history, and traversed fields and forests to be- 
come minutely and thoroughly acquainted with their 
various inhabitants. This devotion to the study of Na* 
ture served to increase rather than diminish his love fo* 
books, and in all the schools he attended he stood among 
the foremost in his class. The knowledge of fishes 
which he obtained upon his fishing excursions while a 
boy, and which he greatly extended during his school 
vacations, was so accurate and exhaustive within the 
limits of his observation, that, while at the university, 
he was able to make many important corrections in the 
published works on this subject. At a little later period, 
a scientific expedition returned from Brazil with an im- 
mense amount of material for scientific study. The 
professor who had collected the fishes unfortunately 
died before his work was completed, and to Agassiz was 
committed the task of arranging, classifying, and de- 
scribing, the specimens preserved. This work was per- 
formed with so much ability, that it placed him at once 
in the foremost rank of naturalists. 

Study of the Glaciers. — His next great work was 
the examination of the glacial system of the Alps. 
These peculiar formations of ice, which extend down- 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 145 

ward from the general snow-line of the mountains thou- 
sands of feet, and in some cases along the slope of the 
mountains many miles, had attracted the attention of 
scientific men from early times, and many ingenious 
speculations had been made in regard to them. Agassiz 
became deeply interested in these inquiries ; but instead 
of hazarding speculations concerning them, he set about 
a series of observations and experiments, which occupied 
many months, and occasioned several visits to the moun- 
tains. He was obliged, at times, to pass weeks together 
in a rude hut high up on the mountain, and on the very 
verge of the glacier. His efforts were rewarded by the 
most complete success ; and, from the facts which he 
gathered, he was able to determine the nature of the 
glaciers, their origin, their rate of motion, and their 
effect upon the ground they traversed. 

Enlarging the generalizations from the facts observed, 
he was competent to state the laws which governed the 
formation, motion, and continuance of glaciers so accu- 
rately, that all subsequent observations have only served 
to verify them ; so that evidences of glacial action have 
been found in numerous places where before they had 
never been supposed to exist. Guided by the inferences 
and generalizations which he made, we are now able to 
look back upon a period in the earth's history when 
masses of ice, thousands of feet thick, extended from 
the northern polar regions far toward the equator, flow- 
ing slowly and irresistibly forward, disrupting moun- 
tains, and ploughing out deep furrows for streams and 
lakes, and finally dissolving under the heat of the semi- 
tropical zone. By the means of this generalization, a 
new light was shed upon geology and geography, and a 



146 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

new province of the unknown was brought within the 
domain of human intelligence. 

Spirit of his Work. — The spirit cherished by Agas- 
siz while young, animated him through life, and in all 
his work he was a most careful investigator, allowing no 
facts to escape him, while he was always reticent in re- 
gard to opinions until the whole case had been exam- 
ined. These qualities and habits gave weight to his 
mature judgment, and he became a great power in the 
scientific world. 

The Old Methods Distrusted. — Agassiz's experience 
in the schools early made him distrustful of the methods 
of education generally pursued. He was conscious that, 
for his own knowledge and mental power, he was more 
indebted to his solitary rambles than to his formal course 
of study. He further saw that, in the prevailing edu- 
cation, language largely took the place of thought ; that 
more attention was given to the symbols of knowledge 
than to the knowledge itself ; that much of the knowl- 
edge pretended to be given was so inaccurate and super- 
ficial as to be of little worth ; that text-books and lexi- 
cons were invested with an inflexible authority fatal to 
independence of thought ; and, in short, that the elab- 
orate machinery of the schools failed to secure either 
accurate knowledge, vigorous thought, or right con- 
duct. 

Reformation Begun. — These errors, he saw, could 
be corrected only by a radical and fundamental change 
in the whole system of education, in which the scientific 
spirit and methods should play a prominent part. He 
commenced the work of reform with his characteristic 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 147 

caution and energy, calling attention to some of the 
prominent defects of education in his public lectures, 
and demonstrating the superiority of the new system by 
instructing classes of students in the Museum of Natural 
History which he established at Cambridge. 

The School at Penike.se. — His success was so great, 
that he resolved to try and reach the public schools by 
instruction offered to teachers. To this end, he set about 
the establishment of a class, to be held in the summer 
vacations of the schools, where teachers might obtain a 
knowledge of the scientific methods. His idea finally 
took shape in the establishment of the Anderson School 
of Natural History at Penikese Island, on the southeast 
coast of Massachusetts. At this point fifty pupils were 
in attendance the first year, under his immediate super- 
vision. He was assisted in his undertaking by several 
of the most noted specialists in natural history. The 
instruction given was chiefly for the purpose of illus- 
trating methods. Each pupil was set to the study of 
some specimen of zoology, in which study he was 
obliged to exercise his observing powers until he had 
seen, and was able to describe, the most noticeable points 
in the object. The facts derived from a large number 
of observations were then compared, and inferences 
made, which led to the establishment of general laws. 
The result of the experiment was in the highest degree 
satisfactory in regard to the nature and amount of the 
instruction given, and the enthusiasm inspired among 
the pupils. 

A New Era. — The establishment of this school 
marks a new era in the history of education in this 
country. Teachers, fully imbued with its spirit, have 



148 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

carried its methods into their respective spheres of la- 
bor distributed throughout the country ; and from their 
schools, as centres of influence, both the spirit and 
methods are rapidly spreading downward toward the 
elementary schools, where they will eventually become 
the common possession of all pupils in every grade of 
instruction. The new influence is demonstrated in a 
deeper interest manifested in study, in the fresh im- 
pulse given to scientific research, and in the greater ease 
with which pupils are aroused to intellectual life. 

Unfinished Plams. — The life of " the master," as he 
was affectionately called by his pupils, was cut short 
at the very beginning of this most important enter- 
prise of his life, and it is left to others to carry on to a 
successful termination the work which he began. Un- 
fortunately, he left no authoritative statement in regard 
to either the methods or plans which he intended to 
pursue, and probably he had never consciously formu- 
lated them. After taking the initial steps in the right 
direction, he would have been guided by the same prin- 
ciples which must control all fruitful investigation, and 
welcomed such truth as would have been developed, 
each new truth extending the boundaries of experience, 
and serving as a guide to the next step in advance. 

Summary of Principles. — From direct statements 
made in the lectures of Agassiz, from fragmentary hints 
scattered through his writings, and from the general 
tenor and spirit of his works, we may regard the follow- 
ing principles as lying at the foundation of his theory 
of education, and as indicating the direction which effort 
must take in order to reduce this theory to practice. 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 149 

Training the Observing Powers. — He was a thor- 
ough believer in the Pestalozzian principle, that the 
senses and the observing powers are to be cultivated 
and trained from the outset, and that the other mental 
powers are to be brought into activity in the order of 
their natural growth. Further than this, he believed 
that the successful operation of the higher faculties of 
the mind in solving the problems of thought, and in 
arriving at just conclusions, depends upon the faithful- 
ness with which perception has been cultivated ; and he 
seemed to have little faith in the value of that instruc- 
tion which has no basis in experience. 

Importance of Hand-Work. — In his practice he 
strongly supported the most distinctive feature of Froe- 
bel — the necessity of training the hand as well as the eye. 
In all his work he instructed his pupils to handle the 
specimens which they were studying, so as to become 
familiar with them under all circumstances. He also 
advocated the general introduction of drawing as one of 
the most essential of the studies which could be pursued 
in the common schools. He frequently remarked that, 
" in the study of natural history, the ability to draw the 
specimens under consideration is equivalent to the pos- 
session of a third eye." He regarded drawing, also, as 
one of the most important aids to mental development, 
and to the acquisition of knowledge in every grade of 
school. 

Science the Basis of Education. — From his experi- 
ence and observation he was convinced that the subject- 
matter of instruction, in general use in schools, is of but 
little practical importance in promoting the highest in- 
terests of humanity, thus defeating one of the funda- 



150 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

mental aims of education. The recollections of his 
boyhood days gave him an intense sympathy with those 
who had a longing for real rather than apparent knowl- 
edge. He found in science, understood in its widest 
sense, the subject-matter which would serve the double 
purpose of education in the most effective manner. 

Besides this, he found that the possession of real or 
scientific knowledge was of the greatest importance, not 
only in carrying on all the complicated relations of so- 
ciety, but in successfully competing for the prizes of 
the world. In agriculture, in manufactures, in the arts, 
and in business generally, success depends largely upon 
the possession of accurate knowledge in these several 
departments. In the struggle for existence, ignorance 
has no chance in competition with intelligence. 

This accurate knowledge is of benefit in other re- 
spects. It bestows upon labor its largest returns, and 
gives to the laborer leisure for higher pursuits. It di- 
rects efforts to worthy and attainable ends, and 23oints 
out the way of improvement. It prevents the loss in- 
volved in making anew experiments which time and 
again have resulted in failure ; and it effectually warns 
against the continuance of courses of conduct which 
are destructive alike to human effort and human wel- 
fare. 

Knowledge Necessary for Discipline. — In addition 
to the practical value of scientific knowledge, he regard- 
ed the methods of science as preeminently adapted to 
the culture of the mind. These methods lead not to 
speculative but to accurate results ; and he had a pro- 
found distrust for that culture which ignores, or affects 
to despise, scientific knowledge. He would extend to 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 151 

every department of human thought the methods which 
had proved of so much value in his own field of natu- 
ral history. 

Authority in Science and Education. — Prof. Agas- 
siz utterly repudiated authority in science or education. 
The fundamental condition of all excellence in mental 
work is absolute freedom of thought. Investigation is 
in direct antagonism to authority in any of its forms. 
Every human being must be free to investigate and to 
think, and to follow the results of investigation and 
thought whithersoever they may lead. The objective 
point of all study is truth. Any system that imposes 
authority upon the intellect, so far as it succeeds, stifles 
investigation, and takes away from the individual the 
power of judging between truth and falsehood. 

Authority is also fatal to that confidence which every 
one should have in the results of his own mental pro- 
cesses. This confidence will be more or less absolute, de- 
pending upon the carefulness of previous study ; but the 
interposition of authority leads to a distrust of infer- 
ences which are based on well-known facts, and in this 
way weakens both the intellect and the will. 

Thoroughness in Work and Study. — In all the say- 
ings and work of Agassiz he advocated and practised 
the greatest possible thoroughness. His maxims in this 
regard may be summed up as follows : " Observe care- 
fully, and compare the results of different observations, 
before you state your conclusions as facts." " Be sure 
of all the facts that enter into the case before you gen- 
eralize." "Verify the results of your generalization 
before you state it as a law or a principle." " Never 
be hasty in coming to decisions." " Be reticent as to 



152 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

the expression of opinions until the most thorough in- 
vestigation has been made." 

Scientific Object- Lessons. — The system which Agas- 
siz pnt in practice in his school at Penikese, and which 
he advocated in his lectures, includes object-lessons ; but 
from the very outset he would give these lessons in con- 
nected series, making each series lead directly into one 
of the sciences. By this means all the good results of 
object-lessons will be gained, with the additional advan- 
tages that both the methods used and the knowledge 
gained are of great worth in after-life. 

The principles of teaching which Agassiz advocated 
and practised are now generally accepted and made the 
basis of instruction in scientific schools. Among scien- 
tific men there is a substantial agreement in regard to 
them. Laboratories for practical experiment and inves- 
tigation on the part of the students are now a part of 
the equipment of all the technical and scientific schools, 
and they are rapidly becoming a necessity wherever 
science is taught. 

Corroborative Views. — The following extract from 
a late speech of Prof. Huxley upon the study of biolo- 
gy shows how far he is in accord with the practices 
which proved so successful at Penikese : " Granting 
that biology is something worth studying, what is the 
best way of studying it ? Here I must point out that, 
since biology is a physical science, the methods of study- 
ing it must be analogous to that which is followed in the 
other physical sciences. It has long been recognized 
that, if a man wishes to be a chemist, if* is not only 
necessary that he should read chemical books and attend 
chemical lectures, but that he should actually himself 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 153 

perform the fundamental experiments in his laboratory, 
and know exactly what the words which he finds in his 
books and hears from his teachers mean. If he does 
not, he may read till the crack of doom, bnt he will 
never know much about chemistry. That is what every 
chemist will tell you, and the physicist will do the same 
for his branch of science. The great changes and im- 
provements in physical and chemical scientific education, 
which have taken place of late, have all resulted from 
the combination of practical teaching with the reading 
of books and the hearing of lectures. 

" The same thing is true in biology. Nobody will 
ever know anything about biology, except in a dilettant, 
6 paper-philosophic' way, who contents himself with read- 
ing books on botany, zoology, and the like; and the 
reason for this is simple and easy to understand. It is, 
that all language is merely symbolical of the things, of 
which it treats ; the more complicated the things, the 
more bare is the symbol, and the more its verbal defini- 
tion requires to be supplemented by the information 
derived directly from the handling, and the seeing, and 
the touching of the thing symbolized : that is really 
what is at the bottom of the whole matter. It is plain 
common sense, as all truth in the long run is, only com- 
mon sense clarified. 

" If you want a man to be a tea-merchant, you don't 
tell him to read books about China, or about tea, but 
you put him into a tea-merchant's office, where he has the 
handling, the smelling, and the tasting of tea. With- 
out the sort of knowledge which can be gained in this 
practical way, hi£ exploits as a tea-merchant will soon 
come to a bankrupt conclusion. The ' paper-philoso- 



154 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

pliers ' are under the delusion that physical science can 
be mastered as literary accomplishments are acquired, 
but unfortunately it is not so. You may read any quan- 
tity of books, and you may be almost as ignorant as you 
were at starting, if you don't have, at the back of your 
minds, the change for words in definite images, which 
can only be acquired through the operation of your ob- 
serving faculties in the phenomena of Nature." 

Uses of Hypotheses. — The question has lately arisen 
in scientific circles as to whether hypotheses and theo- 
ries as such should be taught in our schools — one party 
claiming that school-instruction should be confined to 
demonstrated science, and the other maintaining that 
the relations of the facts can be much better understood 
by grouping them in accordance with a probable theory. 
In the discussion, one position taken by those in favor 
of excluding hypotheses is entirely untenable. It is as- 
sumed that demonstrated laws, or the results of scientific 
study, should be taught to pupils, and that such laws 
should be made the basis of their education. 

A practice of this kind would be subversive of the 
highest good to be derived from educational processes. 
It would state scientific truths in dogmatic forms, and 
would require an unquestioned acceptance of them. It 
would present principles before the facts are known 
upon which the principles are based, and it would give 
formulas of words meaningless to those acquiring them. 
It would retain in the worst form the dogmatic and 
memorizing processes. 

On the other hand, the teaching of hypotheses pre- 
maturely is open to similar objections. Presented be- 
fore all the facts bearing upon the case are known, and 



AGASSIZ AND SCIENCE. 155 

before the evidences have been investigated, the hy- 
pothesis becomes a mere verbal formula, As an instru- 
ment of education, it fails to awaken the mind to any 
productive thought ; and it frequently becomes a serious 
detriment to future investigation, from the mistaken 
notion that the matter is already understood. 

Value of Hypotheses. — Science in-the-making makes 
use of hypotheses. When facts in a certain direction 
first become known, they are apparently disconnected. 
A hypothesis is the effort to construct a rational system 
that will show all the existing relations, and it is rela- 
tively good when it accounts for all the facts in the case 
without disregarding laws which have been established 
in other departments of thought. When new facts 
bearing upon the case are discovered that the hypothesis 
does not cover, then it must be changed or abandoned 
for a larger one. These provisional hypotheses are 
necessary to scientific advancement, and they are detri- 
mental only when facts are distorted or suppressed for 
the purpose of maintaining them. 

Hypotheses in Education. — It is very plain that the 
hypothesis which accounts for facts has no place in pri- 
mary schools, or in any schools, until the facts are first 
known. It must be inferred from the facts, and the 
true office of the educator is to present facts in such 
connection that rational hypotheses must be inferred. 
The grounds for inference are well set forth in the fol- 
lowing extract from an essay by Prof. Clifford : 

" Suppose that we do not merely want to make a sup- 
position, but to infer from facts before us what actually 
happened in any case. Then we must make the as- 
sumption that there is some sort of uniformity in Na- 
12 



156 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ture. Without this we cannot infer at all ; for inference 
consists in transferring the experience which we have 
had under certain conditions, to events happening under 
like conditions of which we have not had experience. 
It is true that we cannot be absolutely sure of the uni- 
formity of Nature, or that our present conception of it 
is right ; but still, it is the only thing we have to go 
upon. Human knowledge is never absolutely and the- 
oretically certain, but a great deal of it is certain, which 
is all we want." 

Taking the uniformity of Nature for granted, the 
hypothesis may be inferred from the facts known — the 
process being one of comparison and generalization. 
All comprehensive generalizations, however, belong to 
the advanced course of instruction, as they appeal ex- 
clusively to the reason and judgment. A hypothesis 
given antecedent to study is an obstacle to improve- 
ment ; but inferred as a resultant of study, it becomes 
an important aid to intellectual progress. 



CHAPTEE X. 

SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 

Introductory. — The examination of educational 
principles in the preceding pages has led, incidentally, 
to a notice of the methods of teaching which have been 
practised from time to time. These methods, so widely 
differing in kind, have all grown out of the different the- 
ories in regard to the ends to be sought in education, and 
the best means of accomplishing these ends. In the 
present chapter there is given a more extended sum- 
mary of methods, with a brief examination of the prin- 
ciples upon which they are founded. 

The methods to which special attention is directed 
may be grouped under four heads, viz. : " Memorizing," 
" The Study of Books," " The Study of Things," and 
" Experiment and "Work." Each of these now has its 
special advocates, and each is loudly demanding recog- 
nition. The first two have the advantage of possession, 
and the last two of representing the new thought in 
education. 

Memorizing. — Upon the establishment of regular 
systems of school instruction, the first efforts nearly al- 
ways seem to be directed to making the people ac- 

(157) 



158 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

quainted with the results of the experience of investiga- 
tions and reflections of the sages of the past. This 
wisdom, usually expressed in the form of aphorisms and 
proverbs, is considered the best possible basis for educa- 
tion ; and committing the words to memory is regarded 
as the best, if not the only, means by which the wisdom 
may be obtained. 

Chinese Schools. — In China this system came very 
early into practice, even before the time of Confucius, 
and has continued until the present day. Chinese 
schools are nearly as numerous as those of the most ad- 
vanced civilized nations. They are regularly graded, 
from the primary schools in the little hamlets, to 
the Imperial University at Peking. Throughout these 
schools the instruction consists solely in memorizing 
the productions of the classic Chinese writers. This 
instruction is graded to meet the requirements of the 
different grades of schools, that of the primary schools 
including the easier and more common literary works, 
while that of the University embraces the writings of 
Confucius and the other most distinguished religious 
and moral teachers. 

The examinations aim solely to test the fidelity of 
pupils in repeating the exact words in which the wise 
sayings of the sages are recorded ; and no effort is made 
to make them understand any portion of the doctrine 
which the words contain. Criticism is a thing unknown, 
as a doubt would be equivalent to sacrilege. The grad- 
uates of the schools are rewarded with official govern- 
mental positions, and every possible incentive is offered 
for success in school-work. Indeed, through the school 
only can any one obtain position or preferment. In no 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 159 

other country does the successful scholar so directly re- 
ceive reward. 

History demonstrates the results of the Chinese sys- 
tem. The memorizing of words, and the blind and 
implicit acceptance of authority, though rigorously pur- 
sued for centuries, have proved an inadequate basis of 
education. For a thousand years, the people who made 
the earliest advances in most of the arts and sciences 
have remained stationary, or have gone backward in the 
scale of civilization. 

The very measures taken to perpetuate intelligence 
have been the most efficient means of arresting prog- 
ress ; and as long as the methods of instruction are un- 
changed, the most populous empire of the world must 
remain in a state of semi-barbarism. 

The Monkish System. — Schools established during 
the Middle Ages were all in the charge of monks, and 
the staple of instruction was the memorizing of such 
texts and rules as would best promote the ends proposed. 
The Credo, Pater ]SToster, and the standard Latin hymns, 
committed to memory, with no idea of their meaning, 
constituted the main part of school duty. The effort 
of the monkish teachers was as much directed to the 
exclusion of such knowledge as did not directly sup- 
port their views and authority, as it was to promulgate 
that of the opposite kind. 

The school did little to banish ignorance from the 
people. Science was interdicted by the Church as op- 
posed to religion. " For many centimes," says Hallam, 
" to sum up the account of ignorance in a word, it was 
rare for a layman, of whatever rank, to know how to 
sign his name." 



160 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

As with the Chinese, the monkish system of educa- 
tion demanded a blind acceptance of authority, and it 
was nearly as fatal to human progress. For almost a 
thousand years the human intellect was kept in a state 
of vassalage. The improvement of the masses, which 
characterizes modern civilization, scarcely commenced 
until the shackles of monasticism were removed, through 
successful insurrection and revolution. 

The baleful effects of the old education long con- 
tinued after the system in which it had its origin passed 
away. Memorizing went on with a simple change in 
the objects upon which it was exercised, and authority 
was still invoked, although authority of a different kind. 

English Schools. — In the English public schools, the 
memorizing process has always maintained a consider- 
able foothold. The classic languages were made the 
basis of culture, and these languages were taught through 
the grammar. Pupils were required to commit to mem- 
ory an almost endless number of paradigms, rules, and 
exceptions, and they were taught to obey implicitly the 
authority of grammar and dictionary. This exercise 
was varied by obliging the pupil to write Latin verses, 
in which the only excellence sought and required was 
that the words should be properly chosen in regard to 
quantity, so that the work would scan, no attention 
whatever being paid to the thought which the words ex- 
pressed, and frequently it was not even required that 
the words should form correct sentences. 

The prevalence of the mechanical method in English 
education may be inferred from the large number of 
endowed grammar-schools. According to both usage 
and law, the name grammar-school is made to signify a 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 161 

school in which the Greek and Latin languages are the 
only branches of instruction. Up to the time of the 
Keformation, the grammar-school was the only school in 
existence in England ; and to this day, among endowed 
or public schools of all varieties, the grammar-school 
holds a position of preeminence. 

Grounds of Defense. — In our own schools the mem- 
orizing process still lingers, and teachers require the 
pupil to recite the text verbatim. He may catch the 
thought contained in the words, or he may not ; the text 
he must get. The grounds upon which this course is 
defended are as follows : 

It fixes the attention upon the lesson, and thereby 
induces habits of attention; it trains the memory; it 
enables the teacher to judge whether study has been 
faithfully performed ; it furnishes an excellent exercise 
in language, both in regard to the structure of sentences 
and the use of words ; and even if the subject is too 
difficult to be understood, it may be well to have it lodged 
in the memory, ready for use when the mind is so far 
developed as to comprehend it. 

Let us examine these reasons in detail. 

"Securing Attention." — The primary attention which 
should always be fixed on thoughts, by this process is 
fixed on the words, leaving the thought to take care of 
itself. This word-food does not conduce to mental 
growth. By thus using chaff in the place of substance, 
the mind is starved and stunted, and its future growth 
becomes impossible. It busies itself henceforth with 
trifling details, and loses its grasp of the subject as a 
whole. 



162 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

" Training the Memory" — We have already seen 
that the retentive powers are best cultivated by associ- 
ating each new idea with something of its kind, so that 
it may be retained simply becanse of its relations, thus 
relieving the mind of the vast strain which would be 
put upon it without this association. The process in 
question tends to cultivate arbitrary memory. When 
this power is unnecessarily developed, it absorbs much 
of the vital force, cumbers the mind with unrelated and 
often useless matter, and effectually prevents the higher 
and better cultivation of the retentive powers through 
association. 

"Judgment of Study" — By means of genuine study, 
whether directed to objects or books, the mind gets pos- 
session of real knowledge. The true test of study is 
the possession of this knowledge. The mere recitation 
of the words of the book is no truthful standard by 
which to judge of real study. It may decide upon the 
faithfulness with which the words are reproduced, but 
no opinion can be formed in regard to the understand- 
ing of the thought until such thought is fully expressed 
in the language of the pupil. 

" Cultivation of Language" — The true mastery of 
language consists in the ability to use language with 
correctness and facility, and this ability comes from 
practice alone. Committing to memory the verbal con- 
struction of others can aid a pupil very little in acquir- 
ing the power to construct for himself. By relying upon 
the book for the language in which he clothes his 
thoughts, he is unfitted for original expression, just as 
the constant use of crutches would unfit him for the 
free and vigorous use of his limbs in walking. 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 163 

"Future Use." — The claim that it is well to fill the 
mind with the forms of knowledge, that cannot be un- 
derstood or intelligently assimilated until some future 
time, is only paralleled in absurdity by the claim that 
the stomach of a child should be filled with food that 
can be digested only when ne becomes an adult. This 
claim is equally absurd when examined from another 
point of view. The words remembered are not knowl- 
edge, and they can be transmuted into knowledge only 
when the thought which they express is fully under- 
stood. Even to a future understanding of the subject, 
the possession of the words would be rather a hinder- 
ance than a help, by fixing the attention upon form in- 
stead of sense. 

We thus see that the practice of memorizing the 
text is utterly indefensible upon any ground of philoso- 
phy, and that it remains in our schools as an evidence 
of the persistence of evil practices, long after the occa- 
sion which gave them birth has passed away. 

The Study of Books. — After the revival of learn- 
ing which followed the invention of printing, books, 
which before had been monopolized by the few, came 
into general use. In them was preserved all the wis- 
dom of the ages which had passed. This wisdom was 
eagerly sought for, with an interest that was only inten- 
sified by the previous privation. In the process of time, 
the reaction against the monopoly of learning by the few 
was carried to an extreme, and books became almost 
objects of worship, and were at once made the basis of 
education. 

Ideas of what Constitutes an Educated Man. — It 



164 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

soon came to pass that an " educated man " meant one 
who had a plethoric knowledge of ancient lore, rather 
than one who had fnll possession of his faculties, and 
who could perform with ability all the duties of life. 
In popular estimation, the pedant who could repeat 
chapter and verse from old authors, or recite from the 
original of Homer or Horace, was a profound scholar, even 
though he had as little practical sense as Scott's Dominie 
Sampson. On the other hand, the man who had ability 
to construct a machine which would emancipate millions 
of men from an unprofitable toil, or one capable of man- 
aging the affairs of State, so as to preserve peace, secure 
the rights of all the people, and stimulate a nation to a 
higher state of civilization, was not an educated man, 
unless he could construct and scan Latin verse, and de- 
cide, off-hand, obscure points of Greek etymology. 

This Worship of Boohs has continued until the 
present day, and has tended greatly to vitiate our whole 
system of instruction. In most of the schools in this 
country, instruction is very largely confined to recita- 
tions in certain text-books. The question in regard to 
proficiency is not whether the pupil understands arith- 
metic, but whether he has been through with Smith's 
or Jones's arithmetic. The lessons assigned are not 
definite topics to be studied and mastered, but a certain 
number of pages to recite ; and, in the examination, the 
success or failure of the pupil usually has been deter- 
mined by his ability to reproduce an author, and not by 
his ability to demonstrate the subject. 

Evils resulting from Abuse of Boohs. — The first 
evil result of the abuse of books is that this process of 
study, having no basis in experience, gives to the stu- 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 165 

dent apparent rather than real knowledge ; and, while 
it may satisfy his appetite for the moment, it contributes 
very little to mental development. The knowledge 
gained is apprehended rather than comprehended, and 
there is a constant tendency to accept words, without 
looking for the thought which the words represent. 

The knowledge gained from books is, at best, second- 
hand ; and although indispensable to a full education, yet 
the same material, gained at first-hand from actual in- 
vestigation, not only will make a much deeper impres- 
sion, but will lead to a closer examination and a more 
profound knowledge. 

By relying exclusively upon books, the habit is 
formed of accepting authority without question — a habit 
fatal to the cultivation of self-reliance and mental prog- 
ress. The first effort of the mind is to observe, and, 
next, to understand. The process of understanding in- 
cludes the most careful examinations and comparisons 
at every step of progress ; and this process is entirely 
subverted by the exclusive lesson-reciting method. 

The Place of Text-Books. — We have already seen 
that the child's first knowledge comes from things, and 
through the senses. Before he enters school he has 
gained a large amount of knowledge from the external 
world. The first school-work should be to increase his 
power of observation, and to arrange the results in sys- 
tematic order. When the objects of the fields and the 
streets, and the phenomena with which he is in daily 
contact, are well-nigh exhausted, recourse may be had to 
books, and the instruction carried on by this means from 
the known to the unknown. The lessons should be so 
arranged that the book-knowledge will be directly en- 



166 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

grafted upon that gained from experience ; and, just so 
far as books fail in tins particular, they fall short of 
their highest usefulness. 

The Necessity of Text-Boohs. — In the present con- 
dition of education text-books are indisj^ensable. They 
are useful as the repositories of knowledge. They sup- 
plement the knowledge gained from experience. They 
arrange knowledge upon the different subjects of inves- 
tigation, and present it in an unbroken series, and in the 
order of its logical relations. They furnish the basis 
by which classes are kept together. They lead the mind 
out into the great unknown, and store it with facts that 
cannot be directly known by observation. And, lastly, 
they furnish the crutches upon which multitudes of 
superficial and unqualified teachers are able to plod 
along in the unvarying routine of prescribed work. 

The Proper Use of Text-Boohs. — Text-books, how- 
ever, should be used as a means, and not as an end. 
They are valuable as embodying the knowledge neces- 
sary for school purposes, and for nothing else. The 
proper study of books is to look through the text to the 
thoughts conveyed ; and study is profitable just in pro- 
portion to the accomplishment of this end. The facts 
and principles derived from books need the same care- 
ful examination and the same close scrutiny as those de- 
rived from the observation of Nature. The habits aris- 
ing from this examination and scrutiny form one of the 
most important of all educational ends. 

Increased Demand for Text-Boohs. — As the cause 
of education advances in the right direction, there will 
doubtless be a call for more rather than less books for 
our schools. Besides the regular treatises in the various 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 167 

brandies of instruction, there will be a demand for larger 
and more complete works npon the sciences, so that every 
pupil will have an opportunity to know the exact state 
of human thought on the various topics that occupy his 
attention. At no distant day in the future, an un- 
abridged dictionary and some complete encyclopedia of 
general knowledge will be considered a necessary part 
of the equipment of every school. 

The Study of Things. — "When investigation began 
to be made into the nature, of the mind's action, it was 
found that the intelligent study of things took prece- 
dence of all other kinds of knowledge. We have al- 
ready shown the relations of this kind of study to men- 
tal development, and we here have only to give a brief 
summary of the advantages to be gained by this course. 

Cultivation of Perception. — In no way can the per- 
ceptive faculties be cultivated so surely as by the study 
of natural objects. Such objects range from the simple 
to the complex, and they are found in almost infinite 
variety. By the study of them the observing powers 
have an amjile field for exercise, and the exact stimulant 
necessary to excite them to activity. 

Basis of Experience. — The observation of objects 
and of the phenomena of Nature gives a basis of fact 
derived from actual experience which enables the pupil 
to understand his subsequent study from books. From 
his observation of elementary forms, he can understand 
descriptions which involve very complex combinations 
of forms ; and from the observation of the facts concern- 
ing elevation, the flow of streams, and the changes of 
the weather, he can understand the physical features 



168 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

and climate of countries which he can never visit. 
Without primary experience, however, the descriptions 
of these regions, no matter how vivid they might be, to 
him would become a mass of unmeaning words. 

Materials of Thought. — In regard to knowledge it- 
self, this study of things furnishes the mind with the 
materials upon which thought can be expended. It 
gives a solid foundation for all future acquirements; 
and when carried out to its proper extent, this foundation 
is made broad, and entirely adequate for all purposes. 

Experiment and "Work. — The old education was 
regarded as the very antithesis of work. It was only 
after an experience of centuries that the idea began to 
be entertained that one part of education was to fit 
men for the performance of their daily duties ; and not 
until early in the present century were there made any 
provisions in the schools for the special training of the 
working-classes. 

Technical Schools. — The claims of work in the ar- 
rangement of national educational systems, though tar- 
dily and grudgingly recognized, have at length been 
admitted to some degree in most civilized countries. 
Agricultural schools on the general plan of Yon Fellen- 
berg are quite common ; and in Germany liberal provis- 
ions are made for the support of trade schools, to im- 
mediately follow primary instruction, and for technical 
schools of a higher character. In France, also, technical 
education has received conspicuous encouragement. 

Superiority of Educated Workmen. — At the Paris 
Exposition of 1867, the manufactured articles from the 
different countries were brought together and compared. 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 169 

It was found that in nearly every department of indus- 
try, so far as both design and workmanship are con- 
cerned, the artisans of France and Germany surpassed 
those of England, though the latter had greatly the ad- 
vantage in inherited aptitude and in individual experi- 
ence. This result showed the superiority of educated 
over ignorant workmen, and it stimulated the English 
people to great exertions in the establishment of schools 
for the benefit of their manufacturing operatives. The 
same result has tended materially to extend technical 
schools everywhere. 

Worh in the Kindergarten. — In the kindergarten 
system, it has been shown that all kinds of bodily ac- 
tivity can be turned to good account in the process of 
educating children, and that these activities, beginning 
in spontaneous plays, may be made to glide insensibly 
into profitable work. This work gives mechanical skill, 
and at the same time becomes a means of harmonious 
development. 

The Next Step Demanded. — The next important 
step forward in education is to arrange courses of study 
for schools that shall embody the kindergarten prin- 
ciple, and culminate in the skill which is now obtained 
only in the technical schools. 

Manual Training. — To Samuel Gr. Love, Superin- 
tendent of the Jamestown (New York) public schools, 
is due the credit of the earliest experiments in manual 
training as an integral element of all grades of the 
schools under his control. In the autumn of 1874 he 
made a beginning by opening a printing office. A press, 
type, and fixtures, costing one hundred and twenty -five 
dollars, were purchased and set up in an unoccupied 



170 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

room on the fourth floor of the school building. The 
Board of Education, while it approved of manual train- 
ning in theory, did not find a sufficient interest in the 
public mind to warrant it in appropriating funds for 
the experiment. Money to meet the expenses was 
supplied by a" fund " originated and realized from an- 
nual exhibitions given by the pupils. From two hun- 
dred and fifty to three hundred dollars were raised in 
this way each year. This " fund " was devoted to the 
various experiments in manual training, and incidentally 
to educating public opinion. 

The kindergarten employments were next intro- 
duced. In 1881 a sewing class was put in operation. 
One of the basement corridors was enclosed by a glass 
partition and supplied with material for the work. 
The sewing was graded, and as soon as the pupils could 
do the work of a grade they were promoted. In 1877 
work with tools began in the same quiet way. Some 
article being needed, a boy who had become discouraged 
or rebellious was asked to try his hand at making it, 
and by his own labor prove of use to the school and re- 
deem his reputation. The work was usually done at 
the janitor's bench in the basement. The janitor was 
a good carpenter, and acted as a teacher in the begin- 
ning of the experiment. After a time another corridor 
of the basement was fitted up with a single workbench 
and supplied with tools. Two boys were sent there at 
a time, each to work half of the hour and to watch the 
other half, both under the direction of the janitor. In 
this gradual manner manual training was introduced 
into all the departments, and at the same time public 
opinion was educated. In the spring of 1882 the Board 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 171 

of Education raised a fund with which a shop was 
built, large enough to accommodate five benches and 
three lathes, with a loft for storing lumber. The shop 
was equipped with tools and fixtures to put it in com- 
plete running order. This done, it was placed in 
charge of two young men and under the general direc- 
tion of the janitor; one of them gave instruction to 
classes every school hour of the day. In 1884 two 
wings were added to the High- School building, and in 
the basement two rooms were fitted up, one of which is 
used for a sewing-room and printing office, and the 
other for the shop. These rooms are twenty-eight by 
thirty-seven feet, are well lighted, are supplied with the 
needed tools, material, and instructors, and are kept 
open during all the school hours of the day, four days 
in the week. The old shop was fitted up for a kitchen, 
and every Friday during each term two classes of six 
each receive instruction in the art of cooking. This his- 
tory is given at length here, to illustrate the difficulties 
in the path of the teacher when any departure is made 
from the old routine of text-book instruction. 

Mr. Love issued a book entitled Industrial Educa- 
tion, in which, on page 21, he gives generous recognition 
to the author of " Principles and Practice of Teaching " 
of aid in solving the difficult problems of public-school 
administration. Their discussions of philosophy and 
methods during the years 1867, '68,' and '69, led them to 
the conclusion that manual training was essential to the 
harmonious development of the child. From that time 
forward they both used all the influence at their com- 
mand to introduce it into the public schools. So pro- 
foundly was the author of this book impressed with the 
13 



172 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

importance of the manual element in education that he 
made that the subject for every paper read before the 
~New York State Teachers' Association at its annual 
meeting in 1880, at Canandaigua, of which he was 
president. 

Much of the widespread interest in manual training 
is due to pioneer work done by Prof. Runkle. The 
Moscow exhibit at the Philadelphia Exposition was a 
revelation to him. He saw in it a sound and system- 
atic method of teaching applied to the mechanic arts, 
and the vivid impression on his mind led to impor- 
tant results. On August 17, 1876, he submitted a re- 
port to the corporation of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, of which he was president, upon the 
Russian system, and recommended its adoption. The 
corporation accepted his recommendation and proceed- 
ed at once to put it in operation by establishing " The 
School of Mechanic Arts." The systematic grading of 
the work, in accordance with its underlying principles, 
as in the Russian system, was seen to be a necessary 
preliminary to the introduction of manual training in 
public schools. Prof. Punkle was the first person in 
this country to definitely set forth the value and proper 
place of "the manual element in education." His 
active sympathy and wise counsel are ever at the service 
of all movements for the improvement of the public 
schools. In Brookline, Massachusetts, where he re- 
sides, the principles he has so long advocated are fully 
appreciated, and enter as an intrinsic element into the 
whole course of study. 

Since 1876 the question in the minds of the more 
scientific thinkers has been, How can manual training 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 173 

be made a part of the system of public schools ? Ex- 
periments have been carried forward in many cities and 
towns, some having adopted the Russian system, some 
the " sloyd " as adapted from the Swedish, while 
others have combined the two systems. Thus far the 
conclusions derived from experience, re-enforced by the 
researches of the psychologist, seem to point out the 
Russian system as the one best fitted for advanced 
classes. " Sloyd," as modified and adapted by years of 
experiment in the North Bennett Street Industrial 
School, Boston, founded and supported by Mrs. Quincy 
A. Shaw, is best suited to the intermediate grades. 
Mrs. Shaw is also maintaining a normal class for the 
instruction of teachers, women as well as men, in me- 
chanical drawing and tool work (sloyd), Mr. Gustaf 
Larsson, principal. 

Schools where truant children are cared for have also 
found manual training especially valuable in its moral 
influence by creating a sense of power, thus giving 
birth to a healthy self-respect, an essential element in 
the foundation of character. 

Dr. Felix Adler began his experiments in 1880. 
The Workingman's School, founded and directed by 
him, has accepted object-teaching as originated by Pes- 
talozzi, and has at that point taken a step further and 
connected manual training with it, in order to facilitate 
" a knowledge of the properties of things by causing 
the pupils to make those things." I quote from an 
address by Dr. Adler given at a Conference on Manual 
Training held at Boston, in 1891 : " The old object 
method was to teach the child to observe, which is 
better than to teach the names of things ; but manual 



174 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

training teaches them not only to observe but to cre- 
ate." In this address Dr. Adler ably sets forth " the 
relation of manual training to the moral instruction 
and the moral strengthening of the pupil," and in so 
doing grounds the claims of manual training upon the 
deepest and most urgent needs of our school system. 

In giving this brief sketch of the history of manual 
training in this country, I have confined myself to the 
efforts of the pioneers. A volume would be needed to 
describe the work in its later stages. 

Hand and Brain Culture. — The advantages to be 
derived from making hand-culture go along side by side 
with brain-culture may be summed up as follows : 

First : By handling objects, a greater interest is ex- 
cited and a deeper impression is made. As nearly as 
possible, all the senses are aroused to activity, and all 
are brought to bear upon one object and made to con- 
tribute to one result. 

Secondly : The manipulation of materials necessary 
to work leads to a closer investigation in regard to both 
the qualities and the relations of objects, and changes 
vague notions into positive knowledge. It corrects those 
superficial ideas derived from the study of words alone, 
and prevents conclusions from narrow premises. 

Thirdly : It trains the muscles to respond immedi- 
ately to the will, and gives skill in the use of tools, and 
in handling materials. This training and skill may be 
used directly in the work which has furnished the prac- 
tice, or it may be used in almost any other kind of hand 
labor. 

Fourthly : In acquiring skill, the intellect is excited, 
and this excitement reacts upon the muscles, so that 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COHERED. 175 

skill is more quickly attained. The muscular and the 
intellectual training thus mutually assist each other. If 
a due proportion is maintained between them, neither 
being carried to excess, it is evident that both may be 
acquired at the same time, and that the time spent in 
the acquisition will be less than that required for the 
development of either when the two are separated. 

Fifthly : The dexterity acquired by the hand, in 
fashioning materials into implements, utensils, and or- 
naments, is a never-failing source of delight, and it fur- 
nishes pleasant and profitable occupation for hours, 
which would otherwise be passed in idleness or dissi- 
pation. 

General Summary. — The great ■ problem which is 
now set for the solution of teachers is, how to harmo- 
nize the ideas contained in these separate, rival, and ap- 
parently antagonistic systems. That some important 
truth is embodied in each one, is probable from the fact 
that each has its strong advocates, and each has its meas- 
ure of success. To eliminate the distinct principle in- 
volved in each, and to give to this principle its exact 
value, is, at the present time, exceedingly difficult. 

Reversing the order in which these systems have 
been examined, we see, in the bodily activities, agencies 
and forces which may be used in educational work. 
These forces are natural, and therefore proper to be 
used ; and the manner in which they are constantly 
obtruded upon our notice seems to demand of us a 
faithful recognition. The experiments made in this 
direction have more than corroborated the a priori 
conclusions in regard to the use of these forces ; and 



176 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

work, as a part of the regular exercises of school, will, 
in time, undoubtedly become universal. 

These activities must have materials upon which they 
can be spent, and these materials are the things that 
must be studied. These things will be selected in ref- 
erence to the skill to be acquired in their manipulations, 
the practical value of the knowledge to be gained from 
them, and the character and fitness of the development 
which they afford. 

The study of books comes in and supplements the 
knowledge gained from the study of things. Under 
the most favorable circumstances, by far the greater 
part of the knowledge which we possess must come 
from the investigation, experience, and reflection of 
others ; and this knowledge must, to a large extent, be 
obtained from books. To exclude books from a school 
course would be to ignore the processes and results of 
civilization. Not only should books be used, but they 
should be more largely and generally used than at pres- 
ent ; and the only change demanded is, that no attempt 
shall be made to get more out of them than they con- 
tain, or to make them do the work in education 
which can only come from experience in the study 
of things. 

The proper cultivation of the memory is not only 
desirable, but indispensable. Mental development would 
be impossible if the mind did not have power to retain 
the knowledge it receives. In the study of Nature the 
memory has a wide and fruitful field for exercise ; and 
when this study is supplemented by hand -labor, a much 
deeper and consequently more lasting impression is 
made. The relations of things, in the infinite variety 



SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION COMPARED. 177 

of Nature, furnish the foundation for the most perfect 
development of associative memory; and should any 
mere verbal exercise be considered important, it may 
be found in committing to memory poetry, or poetic 
prose, in which noble sentiments and truths are em- 
bodied in beautiful forms. 



CHAPTEK XL 

PHYSICAL CULTURE. 

Introductory. — It has been well stated that " first 
of all, man is an animal, and that the first requisite of 
success in life is to be a good animal." In this state- 
ment the fact is recognized that, as regards vital pro- 
cesses, man is subject to the same laws as the lower ani- 
mals, and that the perfection of his manhood depends 
upon bodily health and vigor. A failure to provide for 
physical culture, or to observe the conditions of physi- 
cal well-being, will vitiate all educational processes, and 
render abortive all attempts to reach the highest intel- 
lectual and moral development. 

Opposing Theories. — In the past, two theories have 
been held in regard to physical culture. The one is 
founded upon the notion that there is a natural and in- 
evitable antagonism between the body and the spirit, 
and that the welfare of the latter is in inverse ratio to 
that of the former. The advocates of this theory hold 
that spiritual matters alone are worthy of the attention 
of intelligent beings, and that the highest spiritual good 
is promoted by thwarting natural desires, and by " mor- 
tifying the flesh." By them, a half -developed or dis- 

(178) 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 179 

eased body is considered rather desirable than other- 
wise. 

The second theory regards physical culture as the 
principal end of education. It places an undue estimate 
upon the highest muscular development, and it turns all 
the vital forces into this one channel of expenditure. 

The reconciliation of these antagonistic views may 
be found in the higher intelligence which recognizes in 
the body the machinery through which the mind must 
act, and which sees that the perfection of mental action 
must depend upon the perfection of the machinery 
through which it manifests itself. This idea at once 
disposes of the old notion of antagonism, and furnishes 
the standard by which we judge, both of the importance 
and the limits of physical culture. It makes the pos- 
session and preservation of health the most fundamental 
of all educational ideas, and, at the same time, it shows 
that physical culture should be limited by the demands 
of intellectual and moral culture. 

Recognizing the intimate relation of body and mind, 
the physical culture demanded by education should have 
for its objects the full growth and perfect nurture of 
the body, the preservation of health and of those con- 
ditions best calculated to promote intellectual and moral 
vigor, and the attainment of strength sufficient for all 
the ordinary exigencies of life. This definition excludes 
the idea that in our educational processes, the vital 
forces should ever be exhaustively turned in the direc- 
tion of muscular development, or that the production of 
athletes is a legitimate object of the schools. 

Factors of Physical Culture. — In the attainment of 
physical well-being, four distinct factors are to be con- 



180 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

sidered in education : intelligence in regard to the laws 
of life ; sensibility as to the observance of them ; the 
disposition of educational appliances so as to conform to 
them ; and the formation of habits which lead to an un- 
conscious observance of them. In regard to the intelli- 
gence and sensibility, the teacher's work is mostly indi- 
rect, as he has to deal with actions largely beyond his 
control, and has to approach the subject through intel- 
lectual and moral channels. In the disposition of edu- 
cational material, his work is principally advisory, as 
authority in these matters rests with school directors. 
The direct work of the teacher is confined to legitimate 
schoolroom exercises, which tend to the formation of 
proper habits to be observed through life. 

Scope of Instruction. — The full text of instruction, 
necessary to the understanding of the vital processes, 
and how their vigor is to be maintained, is found only 
in the elaborate treatises upon physiology and hygiene. 
In the present work there is space only for a general 
analysis of the topics to be treated, and a few princi- 
ples under each head, for the double purpose of show- 
ing the importance of the subject and of stimulating fur- 
ther inquiry in the same direction. 

Preparation on the part of Teachers. — No teacher 
should enter upon his professional work until, from 
study and investigation, he is familiar with physiologi- 
cal and hygienic laws. Such knowledge is much more 
important, both to him and his pupils, than the details 
of arithmetic and grammar. Without this knowledge, 
he has no key to the solution of the problems which are 
of daily occurrence in school, and his mistakes and 
blunders are liable to be of so serious a nature as to 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 181 

vitiate his whole system of teaching. With this knowl- 
edge, he is able to give such instruction directly in 
formal lessons, or indirectly by a seasonable word of 
advice, as will make a deep and lasting impression. 
The incidental instruction of a teacher of wide culture 
and earnest convictions is an important factor in edu- 
cation, and will go far to establish correct habits of life 
in the pupil. 

Food. — The most fundamental agency in the pro- 
motion of physical well-being is food. From food is 
obtained the material necessary for the growth of the 
body, and for the supply of the waste occasioned by 
muscular and mental action. In considering the sub- 
ject, attention should be given to the kinds, the quality, 
the quantity, and the variety of food, and to the manner 
and times of taking it. 

Kinds of Food. — In deciding upon the kinds of 
food best adapted to children, it would be well to follow 
the example of Pestalozzi and Froebel in regard to 
study, and learn of the children themselves. What 
food do they crave ? or, What do they relish ? are ques- 
tions of more importance than, What food do I think 
they need % The practice of denying to children the 
food which they most crave is a remnant of the old 
asceticism which regarded the gratification of natural 
desires as a sin, and which finds its logical exponents 
in the self-immolated devotees on the banks of the 
Ganges. 

The custom of forbidding sweets and vegetable acids 
are examples in point. Modern physiologists show that 
the almost universal desire of children for these things 



132 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

is but the expression of a universal need, and that to 
withhold them will be to the injury of the child. 

It may be stated, as a general principle, that the 
kind of food craved by children is the very one that is 
most needed at the time ; and that we should regard 
with grave suspicion any sanitary system or theory 
which ignores it. 

Limitation. — While the general principle holds 
good, it does not follow that the ill-regulated desires of 
every child are to be taken as a guide in supplying him 
with food. These desires may have no basis in real 
needs. They may be vicious, from an inherited ten- 
dency, from the results of abnormal excesses, or from 
suppression in his previous experience. These aberra- 
tions, however, are exceptional, and should not be taken 
as an index of normal conditions, nor as a guide to 
proper control. To distinguish between the expression 
of natural needs and abnormal desires will require a 
large experience ; and, in the meantime, it is safer to err 
on the side of liberty than on that of restriction. 

Quality of Food. — The food of children should be 
specially nutritious. "With adults, the special function 
of foods is to repair waste ; with children, it has the 
additional function of promoting growth, and hence it 
needs be more nutritious for the latter than for the 
former. The practice of supplying children with coarse, 
innutritious food, is in every way mischievous. It di- 
minishes the size of the body, or the quality of its tis- 
sues, so that there is less of strength and vigor. It ne- 
cessitates an unnecessary amount of nervous expendi- 
ture in the way of digestion. It retards vital action in 
other directions, and renders both body and mind slug- 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 183 

gish. It lays so poor a bodily foundation, as to seriously 
limit future physical and mental possibility. 

Examples illustrating this principle may be found in 
every community. The families that are supplied with 
the most nutritious diet are the most active, physically 
and mentally. The ill-fed classes of city or country 
form the lower or inferior stratum of society. The ill- 
fed races are the lower races, and high civilization is 
possible only with a generous diet. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that children, while 
attending school, or while engaged in study, should be 
put upon a low diet. The waste of tissue is much greater 
in mental than in muscular action, and calls for food of 
a correspondingly more nutritious quality. The student 
accustomed to exhausting physical labor, and to the 
food which is specially adapted to muscular waste, may 
need to change his diet when beginning study. His 
changed habits call for a change of food which shall be 
richer in the elements of nerve-tissue, but in no case 
should he choose a diet lower in all the elements of nu- 
trition than the one to which he has been accustomed. 

Quantity of Food. — The quantity of food should 
be ample as well as the quality excellent. The appetite 
of a healthful child is proverbially keen. To promote 
his growth, and supply the waste from his restless activ- 
ity, a large amount of food is demanded. 

In the case of quantity as well as quality, the appe- 
tite of the child should largely govern the supply, and all 
arbitrary restrictions should be avoided. Herbert Spen- 
cer says : " Not only is it that the a priori reasons for 
trusting the appetites of children are so strong, and 
that the reasons for distrusting them are invalid, but it 



184 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

is that no other guidance is worthy of any confidence. 
What is the valne of this parental judgment, set up as 
an alternative regulator ? When to ' Oliver asking for 
more ' the mamma or governess replies in the negative, 
on what data does she proceed ? She thinks he has had 
enough. But where are her grounds for so thinking ? 
Has she some secret understanding with the boy's stom- 
ach — some clairvoyant power enabling her to discern 
the needs of his body % If not, how can she safely de- 
cide ? Does she not know that the demand of the sys- 
tem for food is determined by numerous and involved 
causes — varies with the temperature, with the hygro- 
metric and with the electric state of the air, varies ac- 
cording to the exercise taken, according to the kind and 
quality of the food eaten at the last meal, and according 
to the rapidity with which the last meal was digested % 
How can she calculate the result of such a combination 
of causes ? In truth, this confidence with which most 
parents take upon themselves to legislate for the stom- 
achs of their children proves their unacquaintance with 
the principles of physiology. If they knew more, they 
would be more modest. ' The pride of science is hum- 
ble when compared with the pride of ignorance.' " 

Variety of Food. — Natural or un vitiated relish is a 
fair indication of the food most needed at the time. A 
single kind of food exclusively used soon loses its relish, 
which shows that something is lacking in providing for 
the needs of the system. Usually good relish is a ne- 
cessity to good digestion. The appetite of children is 
keener and more sensitive than that of adults, and while 
it is easily gratified, it more quickly palls upon a monot- 
onous diet. The remark of the countryman that " he 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 185 

could eat liver for fifty or sixty meals, but would not 
like it for a steady diet," is but the application of the 
general law to a particular case. 

An analysis of food shows that there is a great dif- 
ference in the nutritive qualities of the different kinds. 
Some foods are entirely lacking in some of the elements 
necessary to repair the waste of the tissues of the body, 
and if exclusively used, the person starves to death 
as certainly, if not as quickly, as though he had been 
entirely deprived of food. In the use of such foods, 
variety is essential to the continuance of life. 

Food should also be adapted to the changes of cli- 
mate. In cold weather an excess of heat-producing 
food is demanded, and in summer this kind of food 
should be reduced to its minimum. To continue the 
same diet in summer that is best adapted to winter is to 
risk the raising of the temperature of the body to the 
fever-point. Persons engaged in manual labor need 
the foods that are rich in muscle-producing properties ; 
while those engaged in study demand foods that best 
supply the waste of nerve tissue. 

The best foods are those which are best relished by 
abnormal appetite, and which contain the greatest num- 
ber of nutritious elements in the proper proportion. 
The three kinds of food which are nearest perfect in 
their constituents are milk, the lean flesh of beef, and 
the entire grain of the wheat. Either of these will sus- 
tain life without resort to other foods. 

Caution to be Observed. — The conditions of families 
greatly vary, and the habits of pupils depending upon 
these conditions also vary. Some have nutritious food 
plentiful in supply and agreeable in variety, and their 



186 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

entire system has a vigorous tone, and they are in a con- 
dition to respond to any reasonable demands made upon 
them. Others, on the contrary, are poorly supplied with 
food, and in consequence their nerves lack vigor and 
their muscles strength. To lay the same burden upon 
the latter as upon the former would be an injustice, and to 
bestow praise and censure for attainments and for good 
conduct equally in the two cases would also be unjust. 
Teachers who would deal justly with all, and who would 
reach the highest success, should make themselves fa- 
miliar with the conditions and habits of each individual 
pupil, so that they can make the necessary allowances 
and discrimination. 

Time for Taking Food. — Regularity in eating is an 
important element in the preservation of health. The 
stomach, like the other organs of the body, requires time 
to allow its forces to recuperate, and periods of rest 
should follow periods of activity. If stimulated to con- 
stant activity by the continual presence of food, its 
action becomes languid, and it performs its functions 
imperfectly, deranging the whole economy of the sys- 
tem. 

It is impossible to establish a fixed rule that will de- 
cide for all persons the exact times for eating. The 
following principles, however, seem to be well estab- 
lished, and should serve as a guide in fixing the periods 
for each one : Food should be taken often enough to 
satisfy hunger ; it should be taken regularly and at such 
intervals as will allow ample time for digestion, and the 
full recuperation of the stomach from the effects of its 
activity. Children need food more frequently than 
adults, but with the same regularity. The intervals be- 



PHYSICAL CULTUKE. 187 

tween meals will vary with the varying conditions of 
climate, occupation, and health. While the practice of 
eating a hearty meal just before going to bed is a per- 
nicious one, it is better to take a little food into the 
stomach at that time than to go to bed hungry. Chil- 
dren at school, and especially the younger ones, may need 
to eat before the noon intermission, and a time should 
be assigned them for that purpose ; but the practice of 
eating at any time and at all times should not be per- 
mitted. 

Manner of Taking Food. — The process of eating 
should proceed deliberately. Perfect digestion requires 
perfect mastication. The muscular action necessary to 
perfect mastication stimulates the salivary glands, and 
induces a flow of saliva, which not only lubricates the 
food so that it can be easily swallowed, but which per- 
forms an important office in digestion. Rapid eating 
and insufficient chewing do not induce a sufficient flow 
of saliva, and hence an extra amount of labor is im- 
posed upon the stomach, producing exhaustion and de- 
rangements. 

Miscellaneous Suggestions. — Food should not be 
taken when the body is exhausted by labor, physical or 
mental. A short interval of rest should precede the eat- 
ing, to allow the vital forces to recover their tone, other- 
wise the food lies in the stomach a long time undigested, 
or is rejected altogether. Time should be given for diges- 
tion before work is resumed. Complete digestion de- 
mands vital force ; and if this force is diverted to mus- 
cular or mental action, digestion is retarded or altogeth- 
er ceases. It is better to have a short period of com- 
plete repose after meals, and especially after dinner. 
14 



188 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

These principles are well understood in regard to horses. 
A man would be considered as lacking in common sense 
who would feed his horse immediately after an exhaust- 
ing drive, or who would put him to hard work or drive 
him rapidly immediately after eating. The same law 
should be heeded in regard to men. Teachers should 
recognize it, and never demand of their pupils exhaust- 
ive mental labor immediately after eating. 

Use of Drinks. — Water taken in moderate quanti- 
ties and at proper times is a necessity of existence. It 
moistens dry food so as to render it digestible, and it 
supplies the waste caused by perspiration. The quan- 
tity of drink necessary depends upon the quality of the 
food taken, the general temperature, and the amount of 
the work done. Most writers upon physiology condemn 
the habit of drinking largely at meal-time. If the 
drink is freely mingled with the eating, swallowing is 
performed with insufficient mastication, and without the 
flow of saliva necessary to perfect digestion. If a large 
quantity of fluid is taken into the stomach at the close 
of the meal, the gastric juice is diluted, and digestion 
is retarded, until the extra fluid is absorbed. The rule 
would seem to be moderate drinking at the close of 
meals. 

Frequent drinking at irregular intervals is a habit 
almost as pernicious as that of irregular eating. It an- 
swers to no real need, and should not be permitted. 
Drinking large quantities of ice- water or very cold 
water is pernicious, as it absorbs the heat from the 
stomach, and arrests digestion until the proper tempera- 
ture is recovered. Teachers can easily regulate the 
drinking of pupils when in school. In warm weather 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 1§9 

and after violent exercises which have caused perspira- 
tion, drink is a necessity. In general the pnpils may be 
permitted to drink at stated intervals, depending upon 
the above conditions. Drinking at other times should 
be discouraged, as interfering with the order of the 
school, and as generally injurious to the pupil in the 
formation of habits. Tin's regulation should not be made 
an inflexible rule, for needs must decide in each case, and 
the pupil must be permitted to interpret his own needs. 
Pernicious Drinks. — In this age, when appetite in 
regard to drink is largely indulged, without consideration 
of consequences either to the person or to society, it 
becomes a matter of great moment to know what to 
avoid as well as what to use. It is now well established 
that, in our climate, the habitual use of alcoholic liquor 
as a beverage is hurtful in many ways. It injures the 
person using it by lowering the general tone of the sys- 
tem ; by creating unnatural desires, which increasingly 
demand gratification ; by turning vital forces to almost 
exclusively sensuous ends ; by inducing neglect of the 
culture of the higher powers, and blindness to thrift 
and to domestic and social duties. So great is the train 
of evils which flow from habits of drink, and of so doubt- 
ful a character and of so little moment are the benefits 
which are claimed for it, that we may regard the for- 
mation of such habits as the negation of physical and 
spiritual well-being. The question is one in which edu- 
cators are directly interested. Any system of educa- 
tion would be justly regarded as imperfect that either 
ignored this subject, or left a doubt in the minds of the 
pupils in regard to the degrading tendency of the habit- 
ual use of intoxicating liquors. 



190 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

The teacher can do much indirectly and incidentally 
toward creating a healthful public sentiment among his 
pupils in regard to this subject. Yery few of the pupils 
who attend our public schools have acquired a taste for 
liquor or a habit of drinking. There seems to be among 
them a natural and well-founded repugnance to drunk- 
enness. By a seasonable word of advice, and by indi- 
rect allusions to the subject, this repugnance may be 
heightened, and the feeling rendered so strong as to be- 
come a safeguard in that critical period of life when 
temptations are strongest. With advanced pupils, more 
direct measures may be pursued. In connection with 
physiology, the effect of alcohol upon the nerves and 
bodily tissues should be fully set forth. In general ex- 
ercises discussing moral questions and the laws of con- 
duct, it should be shown that the formation of evil per- 
sonal habits indirectly affects morals by the bad example 
set, by diminishing the power of the individual to per- 
form his duties, and by the stimulus given to his lower 
propensities. The same habit becomes directly immoral 
by imposing upon the community the burdens of support 
which belong to the individual. The use of alcoholic 
drinks to any extent produces no good, and there is im- 
minent danger that it may produce evil; hence it is 
better to shun it altogether. 

Tobacco. — Although tobacco is not a food, its use 
may be considered in this connection. Like alcoholic 
liquors, it is an artificial stimulant or narcotic, which, to 
a man in health, is never a benefit, but always an injury . 
Although its use is so common, it answers to no univer- 
sal human need, as is shown by the fact that with women, 
who constitute one-half of the race, its use is very limit- 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 191 

ed, and is decreasing with each generation. The habit- 
ual use of tobacco so deranges the functions of the body 
that it creates a passionate desire, which tobacco alone can 
gratify. It turns certain of the excretions of the body 
away from their proper organs to the salivary glands, 
and ejects them from the mouth. It induces habits of 
filthiness and vitiates the breath, and so becomes an. 
offense to others. It is an expense which, in many in- 
stances, entails essential privations upon the person or 
family, and in every case diminishes the ability to ex- 
pend for good purposes. Whether considered in its 
relations to the individual, to society, or to posterity, it 
is a foul offense, and in every legitimate way it should 
be discouraged. 

Habits of the Teacher. — Of course, no person ad- 
dicted to the use of strong drink or tobacco should ever 
presume to take upon himself the office of teacher. His 
example, so powerful for evil, will go far to render nu- 
gatory any teaching of his that bears upon moral con- 
duct. It is doubtful, on the whole, whether ignorance 
of the ordinary branches taught in school would not be 
preferable to intelligence accompanied by habits which 
go. so far to derange the whole physical economy, and 
diminish the possibilities of life. 

The prevalence of this habit in the community, and 
the approval given to it by the example of politicians, 
doctors, lawyers, and even by ministers of the Gospel, 
make it more imperative upon the teacher to use all 
the means which " Nature and Providence have put in 
his hands " to diminish this evil. He may be sure that 
his teachings and influence in this direction will be the 
true evangels of purity and beneficence. 



192 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Warmth. — The next agency to be considered as pro- 
moting physical well-being is warmth. The temperature 
of the body must be maintained within certain narrow 
limits, or serious injuries result. As internal heat is the 
result of the action of the vital forces upon food, it has 
already been sufficiently noticed ; but external heat, its 
sources, its degree, and its conditions, need further dis- 
cussion. In climates where the temperature of the at- 
mosphere is nearly uniform, and closely coincides with 
the temperature of the body, this subject needs but little 
attention ; but in a climate like ours, subject to great 
extremes of heat and cold, health, and even the continu- 
ance of life, depends upon our ability to maintain a 
nearly equal temperature in spite of the changes of the 
atmosphere. We secure this uniformity by means of 
clothing, houses, and artificial processes of heating. 

Clothing. — In summer, clothing is needed to keep 
out external heat, and in winter to prevent the too rapid 
radiation of the heat of the body ; and to perform these 
various uses, it needs to vary in material, quantity, and 
color. Summer clothing should permit the free circula- 
tion of air, and reflect, rather than absorb, heat; and 
for these purposes it needs be thin and of a light color. 
Winter clothing should protect the entire body, and es- 
pecially the extremities, against the cold ; and for this 
purpose it needs be sufficient in quantity, and of a ma- 
terial that is a poor conductor of heat. 

Materials for Clothing. — Experience has shown that 
light cotton and linen fabrics best answer the purposes 
of summer clothing, while thick, dark, woolen fabrics are 
best adapted to winter. When the fibre of cotton or 
linen is twisted and woven, the fabric becomes a good 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 193 

conductor of heat ; and when the outside temperature is 
less than that of the body, it always feels cool. In the 
direct rays of the sun, however, it affords poor protec- 
tion ; and with cotton or linen clothing, there should 
always be an accompanying shade. When the fibre of 
these materials is loosely held together between thin 
sheets of fabric, as in quilts, the amount of air contained 
makes it a poor conductor of heat, and protects against 
the cold by preventing the escape of the heat of the 
body. Wool is a poor conductor of heat, and hence 
forms the best material out of which clothing can be 
made to protect from the cold. Woolen clothing is also 
needed as a protection from such sudden changes of 
temperature as are experienced in certain occupations. 

Relations of Clothing to Food. — Food is the source 
of internal heat, while clothing is one of the principal 
means by which this heat is conserved and regulated. 
By insufficient clothing heat is wasted, and there follows 
a demand for a greater supply, which in turn demands 
more food. Intelligent farmers understand this prin- 
ciple, and save food by giving their stock proper shelter. 
Persons exposed to the weather in winter will require 
more food than those who are within doors. Children 
thinly clad require most food ; and it so happens that 
often where food is most scanty, most food is demanded. 
To diminish the amount of food, and of clothing at the 
same time, must result in diminished vitality. 

Changes of Temperature. — Sudden changes in tem- 
perature are experienced both by the change of weather 
and by going from a warm room into the cold without. 
When the temperature is suddenly lowered, a chill is 
produced, which closes the pores of the skin, arrests the 



194 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

insensible perspiration, and throws the excretions of the 
skin upon some of the vital organs. This produces the 
derangements which are called colds, and which are so 
often the precursors of more serious and even fatal dis- 
eases. To the end of protecting against chill, great 
care must be taken to make change of clothing conform 
to change of temperature. Adequate outer garments 
should be put on when going from a warm room into 
the cold air, and these should be taken off when coming 
into the room again. During the season of shifting 
conditions of climate, it is better to wear flannel under- 
clothing, which may be a little uncomfortable for the 
warmest days, or parts of the day, but which is almost 
complete protection against sudden chill. 

Sanitary Suggestions. — In winter great care should be 
taken to protect the extremities from the cold. For this 
purpose, adequate under-clothing and thick warm boots 
or shoes are indispensable. Girls usually are clothed 
less warmly than boys, and in consequence suffer more 
from exposure. This is an evil which should be reme- 
died. When pupils are heated from exercise, they should 
not be permitted to sit down in a draft or in a cold place. 
At the close of an exercise in a cold day, it is safer to 
rest in a warm room, or at once to put on extra clothing. 

The room in which pupils sit at recitation or study 
should have a uniform temperature of about 70°. Dur- 
ing the periods when all the pupils engage in physical 
exercise, the temperature may be much lower than this. 
Dampness should be avoided. When the clothing is 
wet by exposure to the rain, the pupils should be per- 
mitted to dry it at once, even if the order of the school 
has to be changed for that purpose. 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 195 

Houses. — Houses are built for shelter and warmth, 



and their form, structure, and materials, need intelligent 
attention. In the construction of schoolhouses econo- 
my is often carried to the extreme of parsimony. The 
objects which should be considered in their building are 
the health, comfort, and convenience of their occupants, 
and the perfect adaptation of the structure to its uses. 
But these objects are often lost sight of in the effort to 
save expense, and buildings are erected unsightly in ap- 
pearance, flimsy in structure, coarse and rough in finish, 
and affording inadequate protection against the cold. 
Matters of comfort, convenience, and even of health, 
are entirely left out of account, and rooms are erected 
so small as to force pupils into uncomfortable proximity 
to each other, allowing no freedom of movement, and 
providing a very inadequate supply of air. 

Necessary Considerations. — First of all, the school- 
house should be well built, both for the direct benefit 
to the pupils, and for purposes of economy in the long 
run. A building well constructed will cost a little more 
at first, but it will not need repairs so soon nor so often, 
and it will last much longer than one that has been 
scrimped in quality of materials and workmanship. 
True economy is never conserved by bad work. Walls 
of stone or brick are better than of wood, as they last 
longer, and are cooler in summer and warmer in winter. 
When the walls are constructed of wood, they need a 
coating of sheathing-paper beneath the weather-boards, 
or an internal coat of plastering, as a protection in ex- 
treme cold weather. The foundation-walls should also 
be built entire and tight, that the floor may be kept 
warm. 



196 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

The building should be large enough to allow a sep- 
arate seat for each pupil, and perfect freedom of move- 
ment of pupils and classes, so that there need be no in- 
terference with each other. Room should also be ample 
for the use of apparatus, for the study of specimens in 
natural history, and for the allowance of separate space 
for the plays of the younger pupils. The room needed 
for air, and the means of heating, are considered under 
the head of Ventilation. 

Light. — In the construction of a schoolhouse, the 
disposition of light is a matter of prime moment. Win- 
dows should be large or grouped together, so as to afford 
opportunity for broad masses of light and a uniformity 
in all parts of the room. Small windows, placed at reg- 
ular intervals with considerable space _ bet ween, cause 
alternate bands of light and shade which are distinctly 
visible, and a shifting condition of light painful to the 
eyes. The light from large windows should be brought 
under control by the means of inside blinds which move 
in sections, admitting more or less light, according to 
the brightness of the day, and from any part of the 
window as may be desired. 

Direction of Light — It is much better to admit light 
upon but one side of the room. If windows are placed 
upon more than one side, they should always be pro- 
vided with blinds which will effectually exclude the 
light upon one side when necessary. Cross-lights, or 
windows at right angles with each other, should always 
be avoided. The light coming to the eye in dif- 
ferent directions, and at different degrees of inten- 
sity, the eye is continually engaged in endeavoring 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 197 

to adjust itself to incompatible conditions, and in con- 
sequence, its muscles become wearied and its functions 
deranged. 

Windows should never be placed in front of the pu- 
pils. The continual glare of light coming directly into 
the eye, without any chance of mitigation, is both dis- 
agreeable and injurious. The light shines into the eyes 
while the shade is cast upon the book, reversing the 
conditions that are most desirable. 

The seats of the room should be so arranged that 
the light comes in on the left side, in large masses, 
so modified and diffused as not to make deep shad- 
ows. This arrangement will allow the book to be 
illuminated, will keep the eyes in partial shade, and 
will allow the hand to write without an interrupting 
shadow. 

Defective Sight. — Want of attention to the proper 
arrangement of light frequently results in defective 
sight on the part of pupils. In a late report from a 
commission appointed to examine the upper schools in 
Germany, it was stated that thirty-six per cent, of the 
students were found to have defective vision, directly 
traceable to the bad management of the lights in the 
schoolroom. This result may come from want of suf- 
ficient light, from too much light, from cross-lights, 
from front lights, and from changing lights. Windows 
are as easily arranged properly as improperly, and the 
only additional expense necessary to secure the proper 
adjustment of lights is that of the interior blinds. Di- 
rect sunlight in the room is very desirable on account 
of health, if the rays can be controlled and softened by 
the use of blinds. 



198 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Am and Ventilation. — The ventilation of a room 
includes all the considerations relative to the circulation 
of the air, and to the artificial means of heating. In 
most of the schoolrooms throughout the country little 
attention is given to ventilation, and, in consequence, 
there is not only a loss in diminished work, but a posi- 
tive injury in the form of various diseases. This evil 
is so formidable, and so nearly universal, that it should 
receive particular attention from teachers and all those 
who have the care of schools. 

Sources of Impure Air. — The great mass of the at- 
mosphere where the winds have free circulation is con- 
sidered pure. The out-door impurities come principally 
from combustion, stagnant water, and from decaying 
vegetable and animal matter; and often considerable 
sections of country are rendered malarious from some 
of these causes. The winds, however, are the great 
purifiers, and injurious gases are usually dissipated 
nearly as soon as generated. Even swampy regions 
would soon be rendered wholesome, were it not for 
the continual supply of malarious matter which they 
furnish ; and as it is, the air is contaminated only for a 
short distance upward. 

In-door Air. — In the room, the conditions of the air 
are very different from without. The walls and ceiling 
necessary for protection arrest circulation, and impuri- 
ties accumulate. These impurities, derived from com- 
bustion, and from the breathing and insensible perspira- 
tion of its inmates, consist of carbonic-acid gas and 
animal excretions, both of which are deleterious to 
health even in very small quantities. If breathing in a 
confined atmosphere is continued long enough, carbonic 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 199 

acid is generated in sufficient quantities to cause death ; 
and when excretions from insensible perspiration are 
allowed to accumulate to any considerable extent, the 
air becomes so foul and offensive as to be almost un- 
bearable. 

Conditions to be Observed. — The problem to solve 
in ventilation is to secure and preserve a uniform tem- 
perature in all parts of the room, and at the same time 
to secure an amount of circulation of the air that will 
preserve its purity. To accomplish these results, advan- 
tage must be taken of forces incident to the heating ; 
and the heating and ventilating apparatus must be so 
combined that the objects may be attained in the most 
effective and economical manner. 

Distribution of Heat. — The heat of a room is dis- 
tributed by the direct radiation from the heated surface, 
and by the circulation of heated air. With radiation 
alone the supply of heat in the different parts of the 
room is very unequal, and pupils near the stove are un- 
comfortably warm, while those at the greatest distance 
are uncomfortably cold. Heated air rises, and, in a 
room heated by a stove, there is always a current of 
warm air rising by the stove, and corresponding descend- 
ing currents in the cooler parts of the room. By sur- 
rounding a common stove with a jacket of sheet-iron, 
open at the bottom and top, the ascending current of 
hot air becomes more pronounced, the intensity of ra- 
diation is diminished, and the heat is more evenly dis- 
tributed in the room. 

Distribution of Impurities. — Air breathed from the 
lungs, in consequence of its high temperature, usually 
rises slightly, but, soon parting with its heat, it falls, 



200 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

because laden with carbonic-acid gas, which is heavier 
than air. Afterward, by the operation of the law of 
diffusion of gases, it gradually mixes with the rest of 
the air. 

Egress of Air. — "When openings are made at the 
top of the room, the heat and comparatively pure air 
escapes, and no good arises except in case the room is 
overheated. Openings at the bottom, on the contrary, 
have a tendency to draw off the colder and impure air, 
and will do so, if so arranged that air does not come in 
instead of go out. As the room is always full of air, it 
follows that if air escapes, an equal amount must come 
in. Usually, this supply from without finds its way 
through the crevices of the windows and doors, pro- 
ducing draughts injurious to those exposed to them. 

Ventilating Arrangement. — To make a successful 
system of ventilation that will give an ample supply of 
air without an unnecessary expenditure of heat, it is 
only needful to observe the foregoing conditions. Let 
the means of heating be a common stove of sufficient 
size. Surround this stove with a jacket of sheet-iron, 
reaching the floor and open at the top. Under the 
stove admit a current of air from without, and at the 
bottom of the room have openings which connect by 
means of boxes or ducts with the chimney. The size 
of the ducts will depend upon the size and number of 
the occupants of the room, and they should be so ad- 
justed as to allow the passage of more or less air ac- 
cording to circumstances. With space in the room that 
gives each pupil 500 cubic feet of air, at least 600 cubic 
feet for each pupil should be admitted every hour. 

Method of Operation. — The fire kindled in the stove 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 201 

disturbs the equilibrium and produces an upward cur- 
rent. This occasions a now of pure air through the 
cold-air duct at the bottom of the stove, which becomes 
heated in ascending between the stove and its jacket, 
and ascends and spreads out at the top of the room. 
At the same time the smoke and heat from the stove 
produce an upward current in the chimney -nue, and this 
occasions a draught through the ducts and ventilating 
registers at the bottom of the room, thus securing the 
escape of all foul air. Two forces are thus brought to 
bear to empty the room of its cold air — a pressure from 
the top and a draught from the bottom. If this sim- 
ple apparatus is properly adjusted, the connections per- 
fectly made, and the flues of proper size, the ventila- 
tion will be ample, the heat will be evenly distributed, 
and there will be the minimum waste of fuel. 

Cost of Construction. — The three items of expense, 
in the construction of this apparatus, above that of a 
common stove, are the cold-air duct, the ventilating- 
duct connecting with the chimney, and the jacket to 
inclose the stove. Stoves are now constructed with 
reference to this system of ventilation which contain 
within themselves the two features of exterior covering 
and ventilating-duct, and these cost no more than equally 
good stoves of the common kind. This reduces the ex- 
tra expense to the cost of the cold-air duct. Whatever 
may be the expense of a successful system of ventila- 
tion, it will be returned a hundredfold each year in 
the improved health of the pupils. 

Practical Suggestions. — In schools where no pro- 
vision has been made for ventilation, the teacher must 
exercise continual vigilance in regard to the air in the 



202 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

room. The attention given to this matter should be 
regular and systematic, as the air becomes foul by such 
imperceptible degrees that the teacher is unconscious 
of it as far as his own senses are concerned. Coming 
in from without, the impurities are perceived at once 
by the teacher. The practice of opening the windows 
at the top, except in case the room gets too warm, is a 
vicious one. The cold air coming in falls at once to the 
floor, exposing the unprotected heads of the pupils to 
the draughts, and producing chills and colds. A better 
plan is to open the window nearest the stove, at the 
bottom, the cold air falling immediately to the floor, 
and making its way to the stove. At the end of each 
hour the windows and doors should be opened a few 
minutes to allow a complete change of air, so that the 
air in the room shall never become very much vitiated. 
During this process the pupils should not be allowed to 
remain upon their seats. By making arrangements for 
calisthenic exercises to take place at these times, two 
important advantages will be gained — increased muscu- 
lar vigor and a room filled with pure air. 

Direct Muscular Training. — The course of physi- 
cal culture recommended so far has had for its objects 
intelligence in regard to physical laws, the arrangements 
of conditions most favorable to their observance, and 
the formation of habits conforming to them. There re- 
mains the question of how much may be done for direct 
muscular training. That there should be an amount of 
muscular activity, each day alternating with the periods 
of intellectual activity, is obvious from the relations 
which are seen to exist between bodily health and vigor 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 203 

and correct thinking. Study determines the blood to 
the brain ; exercise draws it to the extremities. In in- 
tellectual exercises nervous energy is concentrated at 
the nervous centres ; in physical exercises it is diffused 
throughout the body. Thought and emotion, when car- 
ried to excess, tend to disturb the functions of the vital 
organs through the action of the sympathetic nerves ; 
muscular activity, when carried to excess, equally dis- 
turbs the vital functions by depriving them of their 
proper amount of nervous stimulus. Exclusive devotion 
to intellectual pursuits, with a corresponding neglect of 
the physical, will reduce the physical powers to their 
minimum, and, reacting, will diminish the intellectual 
powers also. Exclusive devotion to muscular exercise 
will reduce intelligence to its minimum, and, reacting, 
will diminish the physical powers. To a complete de- 
velopment, both are needed ; the one is complementary 
to the other, and each affords a relief from the weariness 
of the other. In schools, which from their very nature 
give prominence to intellectual pursuits, there should be 
sufficient attention given to physical exercise to preserve 
the proper balance of vital powers. The direct means 
at command to accomplish this purpose are calisthenic 
exercises, and the training for work. 

Calisthenics. — Within the past few years calisthenics 
have been introduced into schools, and among the 
good results may be enumerated the following : The 
weariness of long-continued sitting is dispelled ; the 
nervous restlessness which so often disturbs the order 
of the school is allayed ; headaches and other forms of 
nervous ailments are diminished ; the tendency to dis- 
tortion incident to sitting in one position is overcome ; 

15 



204 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

a strong, free, and vigorous movement is substituted 
for the listless shambling or the nervous jerking which 
are characteristics of schools where intellectual work is 
"pushed to the utmost and exercise neglected ; a greater 
amount of intellectual work is secured, and grace of at- 
titude and gesture is developed. 

Kinds of Exercise. — The kinds of exercise best 
fitted for public schools are the free calisthenics, as 
given in any of the manuals upon this subject. They 
include movements of nearly all the muscles of the body 
arranged in regular rhythmic exercises for class drill. 
Particular attention is given to the exercise of the mus- 
cles of the arms and chest, so as to give the fullest play 
to the lungs. When possible, the calisthenics should be 
accompanied by music, either vocal or instrumental, so 
that the rhythm may be fully preserved. In default of 
music, the simultaneous movement may be obtained by 
counting. 

Calisthenic Apparatus. — For the purposes enumer- 
ated, little apparatus is needed, and in public schools 
generally the arrangement of the room is such that ap- 
paratus cannot be used. Even with ample room, simple 
apparatus is best for school purposes. Wooden dumb- 
bells, light clubs, wands, rings, and bags of grain not 
exceeding four pounds each, afford all the exercise that 
is demanded, and the variety necessary for keeping up 
the interest. By means of these, physical culture is 
obtained through a series of light and rapid movements, 
rather than by the heavy gymnastics which require a 
great expenditure of muscular force ; and the ends at- 
tained are health, activity, and grace, rather than the 
greatest possible physical strength. 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 205 

Time Given to Exercise. — Exercise should be fre- 
quent and not of long duration. In primary rooms it 
may with propriety be made to alternate with each of the 
recitations. In the higher departments and in ungraded 
schools, twice each session, about five minutes should be 
given to exercise, the time varying with the conditions 
of the school. In no case should it be continued to the 
point where it exhausts instead of invigorates. 

Caution to he Observed. — The teacher should exer- 
cise a careful supervision over the calisthenics, and no 
pupil should be compelled or permitted to take part in 
them when ill, or when there is a liability that the exer- 
cise will produce illness. The whole subject of physi- 
cal exercise has often fallen into disrepute from want of 
care in this direction. 

jRest. — Observation and experience show that, after 
an expenditure of vital force, time is needed to replace 
the elements used, and to restore the organs exercised 
to their full vigor. This interval for the recuperation, 
which we term rest, is as important an element of human 
well-being as exercise. The law seems to be that every 
period of activity, whether physical or intellectual, 
should be followed by a period of rest. When activity 
has continued to a point where rest is clearly demanded, 
we are said to be tired, and rest easily restores vigor. 
When activity continues beyond this point, vital force 
is derived from elements which enter into the composi- 
tion of the organs themselves, and we become weary — a 
state which ordinary rest will not redress. Expenditure 
continued to the point of excessive weariness so de- 
stroys the vigor of the system, that there frequently 



206 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

happens a sudden failure of the nervous functions 
throughout the body, which we call paralysis. 

Best of Change. — When one set of muscles or facul- 
ties has become tired from use, a sense of rest is expe- 
rienced by bringing another set into action, provided 
the aggregate vitality at command has not been exhausted. 
This is the rest of change or variety of employment. It 
is the method of relief from the dreariness of monoto- 
ny, and one of which the teacher should take advantage 
in the arrangement of courses of study and daily pro- 
grammes. Upon this principle the study of natural 
history is a rest from the study of mathematics, and cal- 
isthenics is a rest from all intellectual activity. 

Rest of the Attention. — When the attention is fixed 
upon one subject for some time it becomes weary in one 
direction ; and if given to a series of subjects, though 
each may afford a relief to the other, in time the whole 
stock of vital energy which is at the service of attention 
is exhausted, and the attention itself needs rest. The 
power of sustained attention varies with age and de- 
velopment. Children soon weary of the effort to fix 
their attention, and for this reason their lessons should 
continue but a few minutes at a time upon one subject, 
nor for any considerable time upon a variety of sub- 
jects. Calisthenics do not constitute a means of rest 
for the attention when tired, as they themselves require 
attention. The proper rest for wearied attention in 
children is spontaneous plays, and in students or busi- 
ness-men is the entire change which comes in the sum- 
mer vacation by hunting, fishing, camping out, and visits 
to the sea or mountains. 

Complete i?<^.-— Every human being has a certain 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 207 

amount of vital force which he can spend in activities 
physical or intellectual, beneficent or vicious, in work 
or in play. If spent in one direction it cannot be spent 
in another. All kinds of activity are exhaustive, though 
not in equal degree. Exhaustive physical labor prevents 
any considerable mental activity, and exhaustive men- 
tal labor prevents any considerable physical activity. 
Dissipation, whatever form it may assume, is not only 
the waste of vital forces, so that no good purpose is 
possible, but it is usually the derangement of the vital 
functions diminishing the supply of force. When the 
stock of vitality at command is exhausted, no matter by 
what means, complete rest is demanded in the form of 
perfect quiet. 

Daily Rest or Bleep. — By the constitution of human 
beings there seems to be an amount of extra vital force 
at command each day ; and when the day ends, the force 
has been expended in some form — wisely in conserving 
and promoting human interests, or unwisely in dissipa- 
tion by which forces are wasted, or in indolence by which 
they are expended in the morbid action of the organs 
themselves. This daily expenditure calls for the most 
perfect form of rest — sleep. During sleep all the pow- 
ers are recuperated, and vital force is laid up for the 
next day's use. Regular daily undisturbed sleep is a 
necessity to well-being; and study, work, business, and 
play, should be arranged so as not to diminish its hours, 
or in any way to interfere with it. 

Amount of Sleep. — The amount of sleep necessary 
to the full recuperation of the vital powers depends upon 
several conditions, among which are the constitution of 
the person, the nature of the employment, and the de- 



208 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OP TEACHING. 

gree of the exhaustion. To prescribe the same number 
of hours of sleep for all would be as absurd as to pre? 
scribe the same amount of food for all. When tired 
but not weary, the proper amount of sleep refreshes the 
person, and restores his powers to full vigor. Intellect- 
ual activities in an especial manner call for plenty of 
sleep, and pupils in school should be instructed never 
to let any supposed necessity of study interfere with 
their natural amount of sleep. Nothing is more detri- 
mental to the well-being of a student than attempted 
study when sleep is needed. Excessively late and exces- 
sively early hours are alike injurious. Besides the in- 
jury resulting from the loss of sleep, study at late hours 
bears but little fruit in the way of mental improvement. 
One hour of study in full vigor is worth six hours when 
the mind is half asleep. 

Rest from Weariness. — "When activity is long con- 
tinued, without adequate intervals of rest, there results 
a general exhaustion, shown by a weariness which sleep 
does not overcome. The only remedy for this is perfect 
rest — an entire cessation from activities that demand at- 
tention. In the complicated arrangement of business 
affairs there often comes a continued strain upon the at- 
tention, and an abnormal expenditure of vital force, 
which exhausts not only the surplus stock, but all that 
the organs can yield. The redress of the weariness that 
ensues is only found in perfect rest, which must be taken 
to the full extent of restoration of vigor, or the vital func- 
tions will be permanently impaired or altogether cease. 

A knowledge of rest in its several degrees and in its 
relations to activities is of vital importance to teachers. 
Ignorance of the laws which govern the recuperation 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 209 

of vitality often leads to absurd practices. In the olden 
time, students in the higher institutions of learning were 
obliged to get up at five o'clock in the morning, at all 
seasons of the year, to attend chapel exercises, observing 
divine worship by the disobedience of divine law. 
Teachers often stimulate pupils to an undue amount of 
study, by assigning too long lessons, and by censure ex- 
pressed or implied when the lesson is not learned. In 
schools where the high-pressure principle in regard to 
study prevails, the most ambitious and delicately organ- 
ized students are not uncommonly driven so hard that 
their powers of mind fail, and they either sink into pre- 
mature graves, or pass the remainder of their lives the 
mere wrecks of what they might have been. In assign- 
ing too long lessons, the mistake of the teacher arises 
from judging of the capacity of the pupil by his own, 
and of expecting from children an amount of work 
which would tax the capacity of adults. When pupils 
have attained an age that gives them the power of in- 
dependent study, the direction which should be given 
them is : " Give such time to your lessons as you can 
without encroaching upon your sleep, or hours of nec- 
essary recreation, and the amount of study required 
shall be arranged accordingly." 



CHAPTEE XII. 

JESTH ETIC CULTURE. 

Katuke of ^Esthetics. — In intellectual training the 
end is to ascertain the true — the true in the facts, rela- 
tions, and laws of both the physical and mental worlds. 
In morals, the end sought is the good, which upon one 
side expresses the true in human relations, and upon the 
other converts it into action. In aesthetics, the end 
sought is the beautiful, which is the true in the relations 
of objects and their qualities as they affect the emotions 
through the senses. The true includes all phenomena ; 
the good relates to human conduct ; and the beautiful 
refers to objective relations which afford pleasure. The 
three are so united that the course which most certainly 
secures either is essential to the highest success in all, 
and that substantial attainment in each is necessary to 
the highest attainment in the others. 

-/Esthetic culture includes both a perception of the 
beautiful as it exists, and also the ability to arrange ele- 
ments in such a manner as to produce the beautiful. It 
is not only an appreciative, but a creative power. Its 
highest ends are attained through the imagination, and 
it furnishes one of the principal means by which the 

(210) 



^ESTHETIC CULTURE. 211 

imagination is cultivated. The aesthetic sense which we 
call taste, while greatly differing in individuals, can al- 
ways be improved by systematic training. 

Standard of Beauty. — In regard to the origin and 
natnre of beauty, and the standard by which it is to be 
judged, there are two general theories. One, known as 
the intuitional, claims that in the spiritual world there 
is an absolute standard of beauty ; that Nature is a reali- 
zation of this standard to a greater or less degree ; and 
that the human mind has an intuitive perception of 
the correspondence between the material and the spirit- 
ual whenever it occurs, and responds to the ideal stand- 
ard. As natural forms approximate to the ideal stand- 
ard, they are said to be beautiful ; as they fall short in 
this respect, they are regarded as ugly. 

Buskin's Vieivs. — Ruskin takes this view of the 
origin and nature of beauty, as is seen in the following 
extract : " Now I may state, that beauty has been ap- 
pointed by the Deity to be one of the elements by 
which the human soul is continually sustained; it is, 
therefore, to be found in all natural objects ; but in order 
that we may not satiate ourselves with it, and weary of 
it, it is rarely granted to us in its utmost degrees. When 
we see it in those utmost degrees, we are attracted to it 
strongly, and remember it long, as in the case of singu- 
larly beautiful scenery or a beautiful countenance. On 
the other hand, absolute ugliness is admitted as rarely 
as perfect beauty; but degrees of it, more or less dis- 
tinct, are associated with whatever has the nature of 
death and sin, just as beauty is associated with what has 
the nature of virtue and of life. 

" What Nature does generally is sure to be more or 



212 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

less beautiful ; what she does rarely will either be very- 
beautiful or absolutely ugly ; and we may again easily 
determine, if we are not willing in such a case to trust 
our feelings, which of these is indeed the case, by the 
simple rule that, if the occurrence is the result of the 
complete fulfillment of a natural law, it will be beauti- 
ful ; if of the violation of a natural law, it will be ugly." 

Experience Theory. — The other theory makes beauty 
the result of experience. In infancy, the beneficent 
gives pleasure, the harmful gives pain ; the accustomed 
yields all needed ideas and gives pleasure ; the unaccus- 
tomed inspires vague terrors and gives pain. A little 
higher in development, variety furnishes the mind with 
food and gives pleasure, while monotony starves it and 
gives pain. 

In some combinations of qualities or of objects, the 
impressions harmonize with the human organism, and 
give pleasure ; in others, they do not so harmonize, and 
give pain. For example : intense light is not in har- 
mony with the structure of the eye, and pain is caused 
either by its admission or by the effort to keep it out. 
In like manner, cross-lights in a room produce contin- 
ually varying degrees of light, so that the muscles of the 
iris become weary in endeavoring to adjust the internal 
structure to the outward conditions. So in color, cer- 
tain combinations respond to the structure of the eye 
and are restful, while others are at variance with this 
structure and are painful. In all these cases, that which 
gives pleasure we call beautiful, and that which gives 
pain, ugly ; the internal emotion passing judgment upon 
the external object. 

In a still higher state of development, intelligence 



^ESTHETIC CULTURE. 213 

reacts upon the senses and corrects the first vague no- 
tions. The harmful has been subjugated. Qualities 
are considered apart from objects. The harmonies be- 
tween the external and internal are more clearly seen. 
The ideas which Nature represents are more fully com- 
prehended. The imagination is busy in constructing 
new ideals. In consequence, notions concerning beauty 
continually broaden, become more discriminative, and 
exercise a more potent influence upon the emotions. 

Training in Art. — Efforts to represent the beauti- 
ful are of great assistance to its full appreciation. The 
steps of representation are first imitation, and then an 
analysis and a rearrangement of the elements into new 
combinations. By this process we become more thor- 
oughly acquainted with Nature ; see more clearly the 
typical forms to which the real forms more or less im- 
perfectly approximate ; and are able to improve upon 
Nature by representing the typical rather than the real 
forms. This is the realization of the beautiful in human 
production, and is pure art. 

Before considering the steps necessary to be taken 
in aesthetic culture, it is necessary to examine the ele- 
ments which constitute beauty somewhat in detail. 

Foem. — One of the most fundamental elements of 
beauty is form. Observations of Nature give us forms 
in almost infinite variety and combination. We see 
daily the blue dome of the heavens and the green man- 
tle of the earth, and nightly the stars in their proces- 
sion, and each of these gives pleasure : not because of 
their known utility, but because they form a part of the 
established order of things, to which we have become 



214 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

accustomed. Mystery was one source of pleasure af- 
forded by the contemplation of the starry heavens, but 
the pleasure becomes even greater, as the mystery is 
resolved into majestic law, which 

" Extends through all extent, l 

Spreads undivided, operates unspent." 

Analysis of Form. — Descending from the general 
to the particular, the features of a landscape and the 
special forms of vegetation give pleasure, and are said 
to be beautiful. At the same time a discrimination is 
made. A rugged landscape, unfit for human occu- 
pancy, would, at first, scarcely appear beautiful, be- 
cause it is associated with no pleasurable emotions. 
The beauty of such scenery is appreciated only by 
those who have passed from the perceptive into the re- 
flective state. So a tree gnarled and twisted by the 
wind is seen to poorly represent the typical tree which 
would grow up under the most favorable circumstances. 
To a higher culture, however, the very twisted appear- 
ance becomes an additional element of beauty, as it gives 
evidence of the operation of majestic forces, the contem- 
plation of which is a stimulus and a pleasure to the mind. 

Geometric Divisions. — Still further analysis sepa- 
rates form into its geometric elements, the main divis- 
ions of which are straight and curved lines. In Nature, 
straight lines are seldom presented, while curved lines 
are found in almost infinite variety, and it is equally 
true that curved lines usually give greater pleasure than 
straight ones, and are considered essential elements of 
beauty. A reason for the greater pleasure afforded by 
the curved line may be found in the fact that it is more 



^ESTHETIC CULTURE. 215 

restful to the eye. In forms made up of straight lines 
there is a monotony of vision along the single line to 
the end, where there is an abrupt transition, causing a 
sudden change in the muscular movements of the eye ; 
while in curved lines and surfaces there is a continual 
change which avoids monotony, and makes a complete 
transition, as far as direction is concerned, by impercep- 
tible degrees ; the gradual change producing a more 
pleasurable feeling than the abrupt one. 

Forms used in Art. — In the representation of beau- 
tiful forms, the first necessary step is the exact repro- 
duction of natural forms as they appear. Next above 
this is the representation of natural forms so modified 
as to adapt them to industrial pursuits, when they are 
said to be conventionalized. The next step is the reali- 
zation in art of the ideals which Nature suggests, or 
the separation of natural forms into their geometric ele- 
ments, and the recombining of these new elements into 
essentially new designs, known as geometric designs or 
arabesques. In all these cases the forms of art give 
pleasure, as they faithfully represent Nature ; as they 
idealize Nature by more fully realizing the idea which 
Nature suggests ; or as they make complex designs which 
are hints of a perfection not fully embodied. 

Nature the Basis of Art. — In most of the works of 
man the ideas of form seem to be directly derived from 
Nature. In one style of building, ascending through a 
series of changes, from the rude wigwam of the North 
American Indians to the stately groined arches of the 
Gothic cathedrals, the general idea of form is evidently 
suggested by the embowering branches of forest-trees. 
In another style of building, ascending from the under- 



216 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ground abodes of the Borean races, through the rock- 
hewn cities of Arabia and India, and through the mas- 
sive temples of Egypt, to the light and graceful struc- 
tures of the classic Greeks, the leading idea of form 
seems derived from that of natural caverns ; and all the 
changes which art has made in this long series are but 
modifications of this idea. 

Almost any department of human art or industry 
furnishes additional examples of artificial forms grow- 
ing directly out of natural ones. Norman castles, with 
their thick buttresses and stout turrets, were very faith- 
ful representations of mountains, crags, and rocks ; and, 
as they are seen to crown the lofty summits along the 
Rhine, they constitute so harmonious a part of the land- 
scape that they seem a part of the rocks upon which 
they stand, rather than the work of man. The Sara- 
cenic minarets and the Oriental pagodas, with their 
slender shafts and overhanging roofs, were developed 
in regions where the palm-tree is the typical form of 
vegetable life, and very faithfully the natural form is 
represented in the art structures. The lotus, a common 
product along the Nile, appears conventionalized upon 
all the monuments and ornamentations of the Egyp- 
tians ; and the acanthus, a plant of Southern Europe, 
furnishes the idea for the exquisite capital of the Corin- 
thian columns of the Greeks and the Romans. 

Proportion. — The next element which enters into 
our ideas of beauty is that of proportion. In the full 
knowledge of an object, which results from examina- 
tion, there are included ideas of use and adaptation to 
use. One of the elements of adaptation is size — and, 



ESTHETIC CULTURE. 217 

from the correspondence of size to use, of the size of 
parts to their respective uses and to each other, and 
from the relative size of objects when compared with 
other objects, we get ideas of proportion. In natural 
forms these ideas are derived from the most perfect 
specimens in each department. For example, in the 
typical form of each species of trees there are certain 
fixed relations in size between trunk and branches 
which we call good proportion. When this relation is 
disturbed, we feel that the tree is imperfect and distorted, 
or, in other words, the parts are out of proportion. 

Proportion in Architecture. — In architecture there 
are certain relations in the length, breadth, and height 
of a building which we call good proportion ; and, while 
there is room for variation within proper limits, to 
transcend these limits is to occasion a sense of incon- 
gruity in those who see it. A theory has been advanced 
that true proportion in building, in its effects, is anala- 
gous to that of the natural scale in music ; that corre- 
spondences in waves of light, as well as in waves of 
sound, produce harmony. In the construction of rooms 
there is the same necessity for the proper adjustments 
of the different dimensions, so that the greatest satisfac- 
tion may be produced. A square room gives a sense 
of incompleteness ; when the room is too low, the ceil- 
ing seems to restrain us from full freedom of action, 
and when the room is too high the same feeling of re- 
straint seems to come from the walls. 

Element of Safety. — Ideas of proportion are often 
closely associated with a sense of safety. From experi- 
ence, we get certain notions of the strength of materials, 
and of the effect of forces ; and where we see an appar- 



218 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ently inadequate support of a visible weight, or of a 
known strain, we have a sense of insecurity which de- 
termines our ideas of proportion in this particular case. 
A good example of this feeling is illustrated in the con- 
struction of bridges. The old massive stone structures 
are known to be perfectly safe, and are everywhere con- 
sidered in good proportion and beautiful. Iron bridges, 
on the contrary, though we may know that they are just 
as safe, appear out of proportion and ugly. For this 
reason Ruskin says that true architecture demands that 
there shall be visible supports to all parts of the build- 
ing ; that while real supports, as iron rods, may be con- 
cealed, there must be entirely adequate apparent sup- 
ports in the form of columns and buttresses. 

General Ideas of Proportion. — This idea of propor- 
tion seems also to pervade the whole world of thought, 
and everywhere the mind is satisfied only by a proper 
adjustment of means to ends, and of cause to effect. 
When there is a great disparity in these regards the 
effect is grotesque, and is a legitimate source of mirth. 
Hood's comic illustrations were often of this character, 
deriving their fun from patent incongruities. One of 
these represents a small pony drawing a wagon crowded 
with people up a steep hill, and is designated " Drawing 
Lots ; " and another represents an immense dray-horse 
apparently straining himself to the utmost in drawing a 
small baby-cart, under the title of " Anti-Climax." The 
caricatures of the comic papers, preserving the likeness 
of a person but exaggerating some peculiarity of feature, 
and the familiar Latin quotation, " parturiunt montes et 
nascitur ridiculus mus" afford additional illustrations 
of the same principle. 



.ESTHETIC CULTURE. 219 

Ideas of Proportion apjilied. — So universal is this 
idea of proportion, and so necessary to the proper ad- 
justments of thought and action, that it should be con- 
sidered in every department of school-work. Upon it 
are founded successful courses of study and daily pro- 
grammes. It can be specifically cultivated in methods 
of study, and in the manner in which work is performed. 
Physically, ideas of proportion are developed by the 
proper spacing of letters and words, by adapting the 
size of letters and figures to the place where they are 
written, as upon the slate or blackboard, and by the 
methodical arrangement of all written work. In abstract 
matters, the same ideas may be developed by the proper 
division of time into periods of work and rest, and by 
giving to each study its proper amount of attention. 

Unity. — Another important element of beauty is 
unity. The most fundamental idea connected with 
every object is its use, not merely as contributing to 
the material welfare of man, but as occupying its appro- 
priate place in relation to other objects. When an ob- 
ject is specially adapted to its uses, and all its parts', 
while adapted to their special uses, directly contribute 
to the general use of the whole, or when several ob- 
jects are so related that they all contribute to one gen- 
eral use or design, in this adaptation to use we have the 
idea of unity. 

Example in Nature. — A tree is beautiful from its 
graceful form, the proportion of its parts, and the un- 
dulating movement of its branches ; but we are led to 
a closer observation and a higher appreciation of this 

beauty, when we see that the stalk is made strong that 
16 



220 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

it may resist the wind ; that the branches divide and 
subdivide so as to give support to almost innumerable 
leaves; that the leaves are broad, thin plates, hung 
upon slender stems, so that there may be the freest 
possible contact with the air ; and that the leaves fur- 
nish the tree with the greater part of its sustenance by 
absorbing from the atmosphere the impurities detri- 
mental to animal life. In this arrangement of the sev- 
eral parts we see adaptation to use, or unity. 

Unity in Art. — In examining almost any of the 
works of man, our satisfaction, to a considerable extent, 
depends upon the idea that they are designed for use, 
and that in their construction this design is carried out. 
This is especially true of a machine. If it has no use, 
it is cast aside as a mere toy ; if it is not well adapted 
to its use, then improvements are sought. Full satisfac- 
tion only comes when the proper work is performed in 
the proper manner. 

In the structure of a building we look for the same 
unity of design. Whatever elements of beauty it may 
possess, if it does not serve its uses it is an offence. 
Then the several parts essential to the building must 
be arranged with express reference to this use, and all 
others omitted. The test of architectural ability is to 
make the best possible arrangement of necessary parts 
all strictly subordinated to the use. Within the limits 
of unity thus preserved there is opportunity for the ex- 
ercise of a great variety in taste. 

In the arrangement of a room, its furniture and 
utensils, the greatest satisfaction is taken when the prin- 
ciple of unity is fully preserved. Use determines the 
general character of the whole, and within its limits all 



^ESTHETIC CULTURE. 221 

ornamentation should come. In sitting-rooms and par- 
lors, where considerable time is spent, pictures and 
beautiful objects of art are in place, as conforming ob- 
jects of sight to the physiological conditions of the eye 
and to the needs of the mind. A fit variety in this di- 
rection is entirely consonant with ideas of unity. 

Disregard of Unity. — In architecture the principle 
of unity is often entirely disregarded. Churches and 
lecture-rooms, for example, are built in accordance with 
some dogmatic canon in regard to proportion, and no 
attention is paid to acoustic effects, and they become an 
offence, alike to the speaker and the audience. Public 
edifices and dwellings are frequently erected in which 
use is entirely subordinated to external appearance. 

The principle of unity is also violated in attaching 
features to a building expressly for ornament, or orna- 
ment for ornament's sake. In the structure of roofs, 
windows, doors, and other necessary parts of a building, 
beautiful forms and arrangements may be chosen ; but 
the fundamental idea of unity forbids the addition of 
special features not necessary to the structure, simply 
for ornamentation. 

Aggregation not Unity, — The absence of this idea 
of unity is felt in visiting a museum or public gallery 
of art. In the whole collection there can be no general 
idea except that of aggregation. An ordinary visit to 
such places leaves but confused and unsatisfactory 
images in the mind, and neither pleasure nor profit is 
gained. It is only when the attention is concentrated 
upon a single object that good can arise, and here the 
idea of unity is preserved by excluding all objects ex- 
cept the one studied. 



222 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Symmetry. — Observation in regard to almost any 
specimen of organic life shows a certain orderly arrange- 
ment of parts by which a balance is maintained on the 
two sides, and this arrangement is the same in all indi- 
viduals belonging to the same species, and is analogous 
in the several species that constitute the more general 
groups. For example, the leaves of plants are arranged 
on the stalk sometimes opposite, sometimes alternate, 
and sometimes in other orders ; but there is always a 
substantial equality maintained between the two sides. 
In like manner the anterior and posterior limbs of an 
animal balance each other, and the limbs and organs of 
sense are double, and placed on opposite sides. This 
arrangement of parts so that they balance each other is 
symmetry, and a perception of it gives a satisfaction to 
the mind and constitutes one of the elements of beauty. 

Symmetry in Nature. — Our pleasure at the sight of 
a fine tree, to a considerable extent, depends upon the 
idea of symmetry which it suggests. While there may 
not be an exact reproduction of parts on each side, there 
is a general balance maintained. To see how much 
symmetry enters into our ideas of the beauty of a tree, 
we have only to observe one that has been riven by 
lightning, and we find that in the loss of one side all 
beauty is gone. 

In the animal kingdom, so thoroughly is this idea 
of the symmetrical arrangement of parts impressed upon 
us that any deviation from it appears grotesque, and gives 
us an uneasy or painful feeling. This is illustrated by 
the sight of a flounder, where the relative position of 
the mouth and eyes, so different from that of most 
fish, suggests that some mistake has been made, which 



^ESTHETIC CULTURE. 223 

the imagination vainly attempts to rectify. A similar 
feeling of pain is experienced from the same canse 
when we see a person who has lost a limb or an eye. 

Symmetry in Art. — The idea of symmetry is car- 
ried out in almost every department of construction. It 
is an especial element in architecture, where it demands 
a central idea, and a balance in the grouping of subor- 
dinate parts. When either of these conditions is ab- 
sent, there is a disquieting feeling, a sense of incomplete- 
ness, and one element of beauty is wanting. 

An analogous effect is produced by objects out of 
their true position. When a door, or window, or any 
other part of a building that should be vertical, is out 
of plumb, a painful sensation is produced ; and this feel- 
ing is strongest in those whose observing powers have 
been best trained. This probably arises, in part, from 
the feeling of insecurity which is associated with lean- 
ing structures. 

Harmony. — Closely associated with unity, which 
considers the adaptation of parts to use, is harmony, 
which takes into account the dependence of parts and 
their relations as to style. In regard to dependence, 
harmony demands that the principal parts be made the 
most prominent, and that the minor parts shall not ob- 
trude themselves upon notice. In this sense harmony 
is closely allied to proportion, but proportion in a gen- 
eral sense of considering all the parts which go to make 
up the structure or unity. 

Examples of this want of harmony may be seen in 
doors much too large or too small for the walls in which 
they are placed ; roofs so scanty as scarcely to be visi- 



224 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ble ; in the kind of dwelling which is very justly de- 
scribed as a portico with a house behind it ; in a small 
building surmounted by a large dome, looking like a 
child with his father's hat on ; and in that general ar- 
rangement of farm buildings where the stable is made 
more conspicuous than the dwelling. 

Harmony in Style. — In its second sense, harmony 
demands that, in the details of the arrangements of 
parts and in the finish, certain likenesses in style shall 
be preserved, and marked contrasts shall be avoided. 
When the laws of harmony are violated, a feeling is 
produced that the mistake has been made of putting 
together parts that belong to different objects, and that, 
though they may serve their nses, a different arrange- 
ment would serve them better. 

Harmony in Nature. — We see this idea of harmony 
carried out in organic structure. Each species of trees 
has its own law of growth, and its typical form, and 
each individual in the species conforms to the law, and 
more or less closely approximates to the form. Conif- 
erous trees are usually spire-shaped, and have branches 
and leaves peculiar to themselves ; maples, in form and 
leaf, are of a quite different type, and there is no mix- 
ing of the characteristics of the two species. 

In the animal world we find the same laws of har- 
mony prevail in regard to general form, the arrangement 
of parts, and special characteristics. So much reliance 
can be placed upon this uniformity of structure in spe- 
cies that comparative anatomists are able to reconstruct 
an animal from a single bone, and even to reconstruct 
an extinct species from the impress of a single part left 
in the rocks. So strong is this idea of harmony in the 



.ESTHETIC CULTURE. 225 

structure of animal forms impressed upon the mind 
that the discovery of the remains of a species in Aus- 
tralia, with some of the characteristics of a bird and 
some of a mammal, was for a long time considered a 
fable ; and, when the evidence was too strong to be 
doubted, the animal was regarded with feelings akin to 
those experienced toward monstrosities. 

Harmony in Art. — In architecture, the element of 
harmony is of special importance. Many styles have 
grown out of different conditions and circumstances, 
each of the features expressing a definite idea, and all 
necessary to the completed whole. Between these differ- 
ent styles there may be but few features in common ; 
and the effect of mixing parts is as incongruous as would 
be the growth of pine and maple branches and leaves on 
the same tree. 

For example, Greek architecture was developed in 
the structure of large temples, and in a climate warm 
enough for out-door living during the greater part of 
the year. The temple consisted of four walls in the 
form of a rectangle, and of an exterior and interior 
portico supported by columns, and connected by open 
door-ways through the walls. The interior was an open 
court. All the decorative skill of the Greeks was ex- 
pended upon the portico, which was a place of public 
assemblage, and the principal part of the building. 
When the Greek temple is built for modern purposes 
in a climate where protection from the weather is a 
prime necessity, the portico is found to be practically of 
little use in itself, and of decided disadvantage to the 
interior by shutting out the light. The chief part of 
such a building is out of harmony with its uses. "When 



226 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

the forms which were developed in connection with the 
Greek temple are used to ornament bnildings which 
have grown ont of other circumstances and necessities, 
the effect is seen to be unpleasant from the violation of 
the laws of harmony. 

Want of Harmony. — The same want of harmony 
is shown in mixing special and characteristic features of 
other styles of building. The Norman battlements and 
turrets were raised for defense in an age of perpetual 
warfare, and the Gothic groined arches grew out of re- 
ligious fervor. To unite the forms of these two styles, 
and adapt them to the necessities of a modern dwelling, 
is to commit a double incongruity. 

The violation of the laws of harmony is well illus- 
trated by Lowell in his description of the house of Mr. 
Knott : 

" Whatever anybody had 
Out of the common, good or bad, 

Knott had it all worked well in ; 
A donjon keep, where clothes might dry; 
A porter's lodge, that was a sty : 
A campanile slim and high, 

Too small to hang a bell in. 
It was a house to make one stare, 

All corners and all gables; 
And all the oddities to spare 
Were set upon the stables." 

Variety. — The careful and minute study of Nature 
shows that, while there is a conformity to the laws of 
proportion, unity, and symmetry, there are no two 
things ever just alike. The leaves of a tree, although 
conforming to a common type, are all different ; no two 
branches are alike in form, and no two trees are ever so 



ESTHETIC CULTURE. 227 

near alike that they may not be readily distinguished 
from each other. In the animal world the same truth 
holds ; no two animals are ever just alike, and, when 
the likeness is so perfect as in the structure of the 
two sides of the same animal, there are differences in 
detail which can be easily detected by nice observation. 
By these unlikenesses monotony is avoided, a perpet- 
ual pleasure is afforded by new impressions, and vari- 
ety is seen to constitute one of the essential elements 
of beauty. 

Variety in Nature. — Upon this point of variety in 
Nature, Ruskin says : " Gather a branch from any of the 
trees and flowers to which the earth owes its principal 
beauty. I will take, for instance, a spray of the com- 
mon ash. Now Nature abhors equality and similitude, 
just as much as foolish men love them. You will find 
that the ends of the shoots are composed of four green 
stalks bearing leaves, springing in the form of a cross 
if seen from above, and at first you will suppose the 
four arms of the cross are equal. But look closer, and 
you will find that two opposite arms or stalks have only 
five leaves each, and the other two have seven ; or else, 
two have seven and the other two nine, but always one 
pair of stalks has two more leaves than the other two. 
Sometimes the tree gets a little puzzled, and forgets 
which is to be the longest stalk, and begins with a stem 
for seven leaves where it should have nine, and then 
recollects itself at the last minute and puts on another 
leaf in a great hurry, and so produces a stalk with eight 
leaves ; and all this care it takes merely to keep itself 
out of equalities, and all its grace and power of pleasing 
are owing to its doing so, together with the lovely 



228 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

curves in which its stalks, thus arranged, spring from 
the main bough." 

Again he says : " You do not feel interested in hear- 
ing the same thing over and over again. Why do you 
suppose you can feel interested in seeing the same thing 
over and over again, were that thing even the best and 
most beautiful in the world % ' Nay,' but you will an- 
swer me, ' we see sunrises and sunsets, and violets and 
roses, over and over again, and we do not tire of them.' 
"What ! did you ever see one sunrise like another ? Does 
not God vary his clouds for you every morning and 
every night % though, indeed, there is enough in the dis- 
appearing and appearing of the great orb above the roll- 
ing of the world to interest all of us, one would think, 
for as many times as we shall see it, and yet the aspect 
of it is changed for us daily. You see violets and 
roses often, and are not tired of them. True ! but you 
did not often see two roses alike, or, if you did, you 
took care not to put them in the same nosegay, for fear 
the nosegay should be uninteresting." 

Variety in Art. — The variety which is seen to consti- 
tute so important an element of beauty in Nature oc- 
cupies an equally important place in art. This is espec- 
ially noticeable in the architecture of our homes. A 
room is made more pleasant by windows varying in size 
and groupings on the different sides, and by panelings 
so that the walls do not appear as exact counterparts of 
each other. A building becomes a much more beautiful 
object, where exact symmetry is relieved by a judicious 
variety in the arrangement of parts. The plain monot- 
onous front of a great factory, with its windows all 
exact duplicates of one form, placed at exactly regular 



^ESTHETIC CULTURE. 229 

intervals, is a synonym for ugliness, and any building is 
ugly as it approaches the factory type. 

Monotony in Cities. — The same principle holds true 
in the aggregation of houses in a city. However fine 
the model of a building may be in its general propor- 
tions, its endless duplication through long streets be- 
comes oppressive, and the mind derives a positive pleas- 
ure from the sight of even an old tumble-down rookery 
which relieves it from the wearisome monotony. When 
art is generally taught, and the principles of architect- 
ure are well understood, the house a man builds will be 
the expression of his individual taste, and the aggrega- 
tion of such houses will have all the variety of indi- 
vidual character. Then the streets of a city will be a 
source of perpetual delight in their continual surprises, 
each change being but a variation of beautiful forms, 
and the whole will become an important educational 
influence. 

Contrasted Examples. — In one of the principal 
cities in this country, two costly and solid public build- 
ings stand near each other. The one is exactly sym- 
metrical, with a central doorway and the same number 
of windows on each side. The door and the windows 
are ornamented by elaborate carved stone-work, and 
along the frieze there is also a great amount of costly 
carvings. The windows are, however, exactly alike, and 
the carved ornaments are such exact duplications of a 
single form that they appear as cast in the same mould. 
A single glance at this structure comprehends it all, and 
the observer turns away from all this exhibition of labor 
and expense, if not in disgust, at least in utter indifference. 

In the other building, while there is a general bal- 



230 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ance of parts so as to satisfy the mind in regard to 
symmetry, the windows and other parts differ in regard 
to form, size, and ornamental carvings. Each window 
has its own separate design, and no two carvings are 
alike. The differences are not so great as to violate the 
laws of harmony, and the whole effect is that of unity 
in variety. The eye casually falling upon this structure 
is arrested by the beauty of its general form and color, 
and is thereby led to make more minute observations. 
The arrangement of the parts, each contributing to the 
beauty of the whole, next receives notice ; and, lastly, the 
attention is attracted to the ornamental finish, where 
each successive form becomes a new revelation and ex- 
cites a new interest. The pleasurable emotions aroused 
by the first glance are heightened by observation and 
study, and the sense of beauty is fully gratified. 

Color. — Another fundamental element of beauty is 
color. The light by means of which the eye is enabled 
to see is principally derived from the sun ; and we as- 
sume that there is such a substantial accord between the 
eye and the sun's rays that the ordinary light of day 
gives the greatest satisfaction, while light of an essen- 
tially different character would cause uneasiness. The 
direct rays of the sun, however, are usually subdued, 
and so distributed over objects that they come to the 
eye in differing degrees of intensity ; and this variety is 
not only restful to the eye, but it is the only means by 
which we distinguish form through vision. Were it 
possible for all the light which enters the eye to be of 
uniform intensity, then form in objects would vanish, 
and all beauty would disappear. 



ESTHETIC CULTURE. 231 

Standard of Beauty in Color. — The analysis of the 
sun's ray gives the prismatic colors ; and we think it safe 
to assume that the proportion of color most pleasing to 
the eye, and therefore the most beautiful, is that of the 
solar spectrum, and that, when separated, the colors that 
most largely enter into the composition of the sun's ray 
will be the ones upon which the eye will dwell longest 
without requiring a change. 

For example, of the primary colors, blue constitutes 
nearly or quite one-half of the ray of light, and yellow 
something more than one-fourth. The combination of 
blue and yellow constitutes green. Experience shows 
that the eye will rest longer upon blue without uneasiness 
than upon either of the other primary colors, and upon 
green longer than upon any of the other secondary 
colors. In the blue of the sky and • the green of the 
earth, we have the largest masses of color which Nature 
affords, and upon these the eye rests with a greater sat- 
isfaction than upon anything else, a fact confirming the 
idea of beauty of proportion existing in the sun's ray, 
and showing the conformity of internal conditions to 
objective realities. 

Complementary Colors. — As the sun's ray furnishes 
just the proportion of color that the eye demands, it fol- 
lows that the eye, sooner or later, will tire of observing 
any single color ; and, when it is so tired, rest comes from 
the observation of complementary colors. The sun's ray 
being made up of the three primary colors, blue, yellow, 
and red, each one is complementary to the other two, 
either separately or in combination. The eye is pleased 
with green for a longer time than with any other of the 
bright colors ; but, tiring at last, it demands the comple- 



232 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

mentary color, red. In the same manner, the eye, tiring 
of violet, demands yellow, and, tiring of orange, de- 
mands blue. When the eye has become tired of a 
single color, as blue, if it be directed to another color 
partially composed of blue, as green, the blue element 
is not seen, and the green appears yellow. 

When complementary colors are brought into prox- 
imity, the effect is to intensify both, and produce one 
kind of pleasing combination, as is seen in the violet 
and yellow of pansies, and in the appearance of bright 
red flowers, in contrast with the green of the grass. 
When two colors non-complementary, both of which 
contain a common element, as blue and green, are brought 
together, the effect is to modify or subdue the intensity 
of both, and to produce another kind of pleasing com- 
bination. We see this kind of effect in the natural 
mingling of flowers and colored lichens in rocky places, 
and in the mellowness of an extended landscape, where 
the intensity of the green is subdued by the faint and 
transparent blue of the atmosphere. 

Variety in Color. — In the hues produced by uniting 
two primary colors in different proportions, in the tints 
and shades of the different hues, and in the more com- 
plex combinations of the several primary colors, we 
have variety in color limited only by the power of the 
eye to discriminate in regard to differences. With 
primitive people the brighter colors alone appear to be 
attractive ; but, as aesthetic culture advances, greater 
beauty is seen in the delicate tints and shades of sub- 
dued and neutral colors. 

Attention to Color. — As color so much enters into 
ideas of beauty, and is so largely employed in dress, in the 



ESTHETIC CULTURE. 233 

furnishing of houses, and in the industrial arts, it should 
receive particular attention in school, both upon its 
theoretical and practical side. The late discoveries in 
regard to the nature of light have given to this subject 
a scientific character, and made it possible for teachers 
to approach it by scientific methods, and thus combine 
aesthetic and scientific culture. 

Sound. — Besides the beauty which is found in 
objects of sight, certain sounds and combinations of 
sounds produce analogous emotions of pleasure, and 
are called beautiful, and of this form of beauty the 
aesthetic sense takes cognizance. The sounds to which 
the term beautiful can be applied are found only in 
human speech and in music ; the latter term includ- 
ing the natural song of birds, as well as the music 
of the voice in singing, and the music of instru- 
ments. 

Origin of Musical Perception. — In music, as in 
form, two theories are advanced as to the standard of 
beauty, the one making it an intuitive perception of 
that which approximates to spiritual perfection, and the 
other deriving it from the complex experiences of the 
human race. Herbert Spencer, in sustaining the lattei 
view, sums up his argument as follows : " We have seen 
that there is a physiological relation common to men and 
all animals, between feeling and muscular action ; that, as 
vocal sounds are produced by muscular action, there is 
a consequent physiological relation between feeling and 
vocal sounds ; that all the modifications of voice, expres- 
sive of feeling, are the direct results of this physiologi- 
cal relation ; that music, adopting all these modifications. 



234 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

intensifies them more and more, as it ascends to its 
higher forms and becomes music in virtue of thus in- 
tensifying them ; that from the ancient epic poet, chant- 
ing his verses, down to the modern musical composer, 
men of unusually strong feelings, prone to express them 
in extreme forms, have been naturally the agents of these 
intensifications ; and that there has little by little arisen 
a wide divergence between this idealized language of 
emotion and its natural language ; to which direct evi- 
dence we have added the indirect — that on no other 
tenable hypothesis can either the expressiveness or the 
genesis of music be explained." 

Whether we adopt the one or the other of these 
theories in regard to the nature and origin of music, we 
are all agreed that the musical faculty can be cultivated ; 
that musical culture is a part of a complete education, 
giving to the individual additional power and means of 
enjoyment, and that this culture is a legitimate part of 
school work. 

^Esthetic and Moral Value of Music. — The im- 
portance of musical culture to full development and the 
exact place it should occupy are so well stated by Mr. 
Spencer that we again quote : " The tendency of civil- 
ization is more and more to repress the antagonistic ele- 
ments of our characters, and to develop the social ones ; 
to curb our purely selfish desires and exercise our un- 
selfish ones ; to replace private gratification by gratifica- 
tion resulting from or involving the happiness of others. 
And while, by this adaptation to the social state, the 
sympathetic side of our nature is being unfolded, there 
is simultaneously growing up a language of sympathetic 
intercourse — a language through which we communi- 



.ESTHETIC CULTURE. 235 

cate to others the happiness we feel, and are made to 
share in their happiness." 

Music in Schools. — The controversies that have 
arisen concerning the introduction of music into schools 
have furnished incontrovertible arguments in its favor ; 
and experience has more than justified the logic, so that we 
are safe in assuming that music should constitute a part 
of every regular course of instruction in school. Sing- 
ing should be practised daily in every department for 
the immediate pleasure it gives, for the aesthetic culture 
which it affords, and for its beneficial results in school 
discipline. In the higher departments the art of music 
should be supplemented by its science, the attention be- 
ing mainly given to singing, as being of much greater 
importance than any form of instrumental music. 

Character of School Music. — As the function of 
music is to express emotion, which, reacting upon char- 
acter, tends to stimulate emotion, and progressively give 
it more fit expression, the character of the music intro- 
duced into our schools becomes a matter of prime con- 
cern. Music, like literature, has its low and sensational 
forms which tend to degrade both taste and feeling. 
Dime novels have their counterpart in musical composi- 
tion. This low kind of music includes the purely mean- 
ingless ; the sentimental, which ends in mere sentiment, 
but never excites to generosity or action ; the mocking, 
which parodies and vulgarizes that which is lofty and 
pure ; the ignoble, which clothes puerility in the garb 
of piety ; and the satanic, which appeals directly to the 
lower and baser passions. All this kind of music should 
be shunned, and that alone chosen which has a tendency 
to arouse the higher nature, to repress selfishness, and to 
17 



236 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

restrain the lower propensities. Music of this kind, 
while directly aiding in aesthetic development, becomes 
an important element in moral culture. 

Tones in Speech. — Speech has the double function 
of expressing thought and emotion, the former by words 
and their combinations, and the latter principally by 
the quality and variations of tone. In moral culture, 
the end is to subordinate the passions, the appetites, and 
the selfish propensities ; to develop sympathy and the 
desire for the good of others ; and to place all the ac- 
tivities under the control of reason. ^Esthetic culture 
demands that the expression of these ruder emotions 
shall be correspondingly subordinated, and that the ex- 
pression of the gentler emotions be cultivated until they 
become fixed habits. 

Unpleasant Tones. — Loud tones in common conver- 
sation express a domineering spirit, coarse emotion, or a 
selfish determination to be heard in any event ; shrill 
tones denote ill-temper ; sneering tones indicate a dis- 
position to hurt ; and harsh dissonant tones show a want 
of thought or a lack of human sympathy. Should these 
tones be used simply from imitation, they would have 
the effect to arouse the emotions of which they are the 
natural expression in the person using them and in 
others. In consequence, the teacher cannot be too care- 
ful in regard to his own manner of speech, nor too at- 
tentive to that of his pupils. By proper training in re- 
gard to speech, the aesthetic sense is cultivated, and this, 
reacting, produces greater beauty of speech ; and, in the 
end, the tones used by both teacher and pupil will be 
those which express kindliness and tender emotion, and 
none other. 



^ESTHETIC CULTURE. 237 

General Summary. — From the foregoing analysis, 
we get an idea of the nature of beauty and of the 
universality of its elements, and we see how aesthetic 
culture reaches out toward science upon the one side, and 
toward morals upon the other. We also see how errone- 
ous is the notion which so extensively prevails that the 
aesthetic sense is confined to an appreciation or produc- 
tion of pictures or other works which come under the 
general designation of the fine arts. It is true that the 
fine arts constitute the proper field for aesthetic activity ; 
but the limits of these arts must be extended so as to 
embrace all possible arrangements of objects and ma- 
terials that give to the mind the satisfaction which is af- 
forded by beauty. The processes to secure this end are 
two — a mental conception of what constitutes beauty, 
and a practical ability to arrange available materials in 
such a manner as to approximately satisfy this concep- 
tion. These processes may be separated in thought, but 
scarcely in practice, each step in the one being accom- 
panied by a corresponding step in the other. An en- 
deavor to do, results in a better knowledge of what 
should be done, and increased knowledge gives greater 
power to do. 

JEsthetic Teaching. — The processes of teaching in 
our schools leading to aesthetic culture need be both di- 
rect and indirect — direct in developing ideas in regard 
to beauty, and in giving to them practical expression, 
and indirect, in so arranging all matters pertaining to 
the school that the same ideas may be insensibly im- 
bibed. 

The Schoolroom. — In the construction of the 



238 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

schoolroom, due regard should be paid to proportion, 
unity, and harmony, so that the room itself may be a 
satisfaction rather than an offense to the aesthetic sense. 
The shape of the room, the finish of the walls, and the 
character of the furniture are all matters of importance. 
A room one-fourth longer than wide, with windows 
grouped to admit broad lights, finished with the natural 
grain of wood instead of paint, and with walls delicately 
tinted, costs but little more in the outset than the cari- 
catures of buildings which are so often erected for school- 
houses. It will be seen also that the arrangement for 
the admission of light and the apparatus for heating 
and ventilation have their aesthetic as well as sanitary 
bearing. 

The business of building belongs to the school di- 
rectors, and the teacher's office in this connection is only 
advisory. In the care of the room, however, where the 
teacher has control, equal regard should be paid to 
aesthetic effects. The room must always be kept scru- 
pulously clean. There is no ugliness or deformity so 
fatal to aesthetic culture as filth. The furniture should 
be preserved unmarred, and every piece of apparatus 
should have its appropriate place and be kept there 
when not in use. 

The untinted and often dingy walls of the ordinary 
schoolroom may be so decorated in some cheap way, 
that ugliness will be converted into beauty. A few 
hardy vines may be trained to run over them ; or, fail- 
ing in this, evergreen branches may be used with excel- 
lent effect. In summer, bouquets of flowers may be 
made available, the perfume as well as the beauty pro- 
ducing agreeable impressions. 



ESTHETIC CULTURE. 239 

School Surroundings. — In the choice of a site, re- 
gard should be had to its beauty as well as to its health- 
fulness. A fine slope near a grove of trees, an outlook 
upon a body of water or over a valley, or a sheltered 
nook among the hills, will furnish beautiful images, 
which will insensibly take possession of the minds of 
the pupils. As the influence which the site affords will 
affect favorably or unfavorably many generations of 
children, it seems that much more than the usual amount 
of attention should be given to this matter. In regard to 
the condition and care of the school-yard, grass and trees 
are indispensable, and flowers are very desirable. On 
the negative side, rank weeds should be exterminated, 
and no foul places should be tolerated. 

Dress. — Attention to personal appearance is one 
of the fundamental requirements of aesthetic culture, 
and this includes dress. Perfect neatness in dress is 
an indispensable requisite demanded alike by health, 
morality, and beauty. In addition, the latter requires 
proper attention to form, color, and adaptation to special 
use. Neither costly material nor fashion necessarily 
has any connection with the intrinsically beautiful, but 
there is a demand that the best disposition shall be made 
of the material at command. 

Habits and Manners. — Personal habits and manners 
have a direct bearing upon this subject. The sharp, 
abrupt words of command, so frequently used by teach- 
ers, not only tend to excite antagonism, but they be- 
come sources of unamiable expression on the part of 
pupils, leading directly to boorishness of behavior. 
Courtesy upon the part of both teacher and pupils is 
demanded alike by aesthetics and morality. Obedience 



240 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

is much more quickly and willingly yielded to a pleas- 
ant request than to a stern command ; and, when yielded 
in the one case, it is a spontaneous and cheerful act, and 
in the other it is the sullen compliance, offspring of 
fear. Culture in this direction also demands that atten- 
tion should be given to cleaning shoes upon entering 
the room, to the manner of walking in the room, and to 
proper position in study and recitation. 

In the detail of work performed by the pupil, there 
is an opportunity for direct aesthetic culture. Books 
should be kept neat and in their places. The desks 
should be without blot or mar. The writing on paper 
and slates should always be neatly done. All black- 
board work should be neatly arranged, and in such order 
that the successive steps can be easily followed. While 
pupils are sometimes impatient of criticism of slovenly 
work, they are always pleased when the process of in- 
struction has resulted in their ability to do neat work. 

Drawing. — While the manner of performing work 
in all the branches may be made to contribute to aesthet- 
ic culture, the special work to that end is drawing, and 
for this reason drawing should be made a part of the 
daily work in every grade of school. Drawing is not, as 
is quite generally supposed, a study merely for artists, 
but it is of the highest use to all, physically in training 
the muscles of the hand, intellectually in inciting to 
correct observation, and aesthetically in the appreciation 
and production of beauty in form. It is also the hand- 
maid of other branches, and no study in school can be 
pursued in which drawing in some form may not be 
made an important aid. It is so important in its bearing 



ESTHETIC CULTURE. 241 

upon aesthetic culture, as well as in its other relations, 
that a somewhat detailed statement of its successive 
steps seems to be demanded. 

Muscular Drill. — Experience shows that when 
drawing is introduced into schools, the lessons alter- 
nating with penmanship, the latter is more quickly 
learned than though the whole time had been spent 
upon it alone. The training derived from drawing 
gives to the muscles of the hand flexibility and ac- 
curacy of movement, of the greatest value in all de- 
partments of industry where delicacy of touch is 
demanded. The exercises that give this training com- 
prise both free-hand drawing and the invention of 
new designs from given elements. 

Cultivating Observation. — The end next to be at- 
tained in drawing is the habit of correct observation. 
Success in this is of great importance in the study of 
the physical sciences, as the study gives the matter for 
drawing, and the drawing leads to nicer observation in 
the science. This power to represent real objects is 
also of great value in almost every kind of mechanical 
pursuit, and it lies at the very foundation of all success- 
ful art. 

Perspective and Shading. — Real objects must be 
drawn as they appear, and the efforts to accomplish this 
develop the facts from which the laws of perspective 
are derived. These laws are then applied to the repre- 
sentation of objects, either single or in combination, 
greatly facilitating the operation. In a similar way the 
manner of representing light and shade is practised 
as an art, and the laws are developed and applied in 
practice. 



242 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Use of Colors. — The fondness of children for color 
may be turned to good account in this direction. The 
regular color-lessons in the primary grades are mainly 
for the purpose of giving the pupils the names and 
qualities of the primary colors, and their more simple 
combinations. In the more advanced grades, the pupils 
may be led to gradually substitute color for the black 
lines in shading, and by easy stages to the use of color 
in painting. By such practical exercises, ideas of 
beauty in color may be developed and practically ap- 
plied. 

Industrial Art. — In the higher grades the princi- 
ples of drawing should be turned in the direction of the 
industries. As in the advanced courses of every branch 
of science, the methods change from induction to deduc- 
tion, from discovery to application. The laws which 
have been inferred from practice and verified, and the 
skill obtained in the lower grades, need now be applied 
to specific fields of industry, and the aesthetic sense em- 
ployed in engrafting the beautiful upon the useful, or 
rather in so constructing the useful that it becomes 
the beautiful. At this point, the courses of instruction, 
which before have been general, may now diverge, 
and conform to individual tastes or to prospective vo- 
cations. 

Art Proper. — The greatest advantage to be derived 
from drawing in school is the aid which it gives to 
the development of the sesthetic sense in all. A feeling 
of respect and admiration is engendered for all beauti- 
ful things, and with it a corresponding feeling of dis- 
gust at the essentially ugly and vulgar. The sesthetic 
sense lends its sanction to morality by its recognition 



AESTHETIC CULTURE. 213 

of the " beauty of holiness." It sees harmony of re- 
lation in human conduct when it conforms to the 
Golden Rule, and selfishness, vice, and crime are as 
repulsive to good taste as to good morals. But these 
lessons have another value. They afford the best 
means for the discovery of those who have a peculiar 
aptitude for artistic work, and they furnish the best 
opportunity for the cultivation of the artistic faculty. 
When drawing in our schools becomes general, we may 
expect not only a more universal appreciation of beauty 
in Nature and art, but a large accession to the ranks of 
true artists. 

National Art. — As the aesthetic sense becomes de- 
veloped, and aesthetic ideas are disseminated, the ques- 
tion of the formation of a distinctive school of American 
art is frequently discussed, and speculations are indulged 
in as to what will be its character. We believe that in 
the future such a school will appear, but only its more 
general features can now be outlined. It will evidently 
not be a copy of the art of antiquity, nor of any of the 
schools of modern Europe, for the life out of which 
these schools grew was provincial compared with the 
cosmopolitan character of American society. It can- 
not be a mere school of foreign growth grafted upon 
American life. It must be an outgrowth of our own 
conditions and necessities. If it is to have more than 
a mere ephemeral existence, its roots must be deeply 
and firmly set in Nature, and it must find its first 
expression in personal appearance and manners, and 
in the best possible ordering of homes. The care and 
arrangement of the common material necessary for daily 
comfort must be made a matter of consideration, so 



244 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

that children may imbibe ideas of beauty from the first 
moment of conscious existence. This implies artistic 
setting for our lives, of which pictures, statuary, and 
noble architecture are only elements. National art 
will come from individual culture, as national morality 
comes from individual character. 

The common schools furnish the opportunity for the 
dissemination of aesthetic ideas, and the teachers of 
the country are the custodians of the future of national 
art, as well as of national intelligence. If true to their 
trusts they will strive as earnestly for aesthetic as for in- 
tellectual culture, both as an element of personal char- 
acter and as a means of instruction. The pupils under 
their care will be trained to the production of beautiful 
forms, and to the appreciation of the beautiful in 
Nature and art. The taste acquired in school will 
influence all the homes of the land ; and from these 
homes, transfigured by the spirit of beauty, an Ameri- 
can art will arise, as varied, as comprehensive, and as 
original as the intelligence and character of the Ameri- 
can people. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MORAL CULTURE. 

Moral Alms. — To attain a high moral character, a 
modern writer says: a ¥e must consider the demands 
of the present time ; become enlightened concerning 
our practical duties ; learn to make the best of all hu- 
man conditions ; seek, amid all obstructions, confusions, 
and corruptions, the way of a true life ; bear testimony 
against all iniquity, and in favor of all righteousness ; 
and dedicate our lives to the reasonable service of God 
and man, as children of the Highest, and as brothers 
of the lowest." 

This exalted aim may be considered the fruitage of 
education and of life, and it becomes a question of great 
moment as to how far it may be attained through the 
instrumentality of the schools. 

Neglect of Moral Instruction. — It has been charged, 
with some show of reason, that in our modern system 
of schools intelligence is more directly sought than mo- 
rality, that the discriminative and executive powers 
are cultivated to the neglect of the regulative. Making 

due allowance for exaggeration and prejudice, there re- 

(245) 



246 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

mains enough of truth in this charge to demand that 
its causes should be investigated and a remedy devised. 

Reasons for the Neglect. — The most obvious reasons 
for the neglect of moral instruction in schools are that 
the sciences and the branches that treat of purely intel- 
lectual matters are better known and systematized than 
those that treat of morals, and hence are more easily 
taught ; and that little effort has been made to examine 
morals upon the scientific side, and to formulate its 
principles in accordance with the general ideas of hu- 
man development. 

Another reason bearing upon the same subject has 
been the prevalence of two, crude philosophic notions, 
antagonistic to each other, but equally opposed to sound 
moral training. The first of these claims that moral 
conduct is incident to intellectual culture, and hence 
that the ordinary exercises of the schools are sufficient 
for moral purposes ; the second, that morality belongs 
exclusively to theology, and hence has no place in the 
secular scheme of State education, or, indeed, in any 
but strictly sectarian schools. 

At the present time, however, the fact that morality 
does not receive proper attention is regarded by the 
most thoughtful teachers and friends of education as a 
grave if not fatal defect in any system of education ; 
and the reasons for such neglect in the past are not con- 
sidered so formidable or fundamental as necessarily to 
apply to the schools of the future. The old philosophic 
notions are seriously called in question, and there is an 
evident desire for a new departure. The first steps 
looking toward reform require an examination of fun- 
damental principles. 



MORAL CULTURE. 247 

What is Morality ? — The field of morality is hu- 
manity, and it includes all the possible relations which 
exist between human beings. A man has duties reli- 
gious toward his Maker; duties personal to himself; 
duties moral toward his neighbor ; and duties humane 
toward the lower animals. All these duties are im- 
perative, but the domain of each may be considered 
separately. It is only when relations are established be- 
tween man and man that morality arises or is possible. 

It is a question of relations between creatures of the 
same order. The instinctive feeling we call sympathy 
acts only in so far as we attribute to others a likeness 
to ourselves. It is instinctive inasmuch as it is instant 
in action, so soon as the intellect has supplied the in- 
formation necessary to establish the relation of likeness 
between us and another creature. The hard, unsym- 
pathetic nature is, in the main, the result of narrow ex- 
perience and limited knowledge. The imagination also 
has its part to play in vividly representing the situa- 
tion ; but imagination is dependent for its material upon 
the intellect and upon the feelings for its stimulus. 
Hence the value of fairy tales, of fables, of story-tell- 
ing, of biographies, and of literature generally, in the 
strict sense of the word, as a powerful agent in moral 
culture through its nurture of the imagination. 

When the time has come in the development of 
the pupil's mind that he naturally demands a scientific 
analysis of the subject of duty, and of its sanctions, it 
can readily be shown that duties to self are imperative, 
if duties to others are acknowledged, for only by a 
strict observance of duties regarding; self can we attain 
the best conditions for the performance of our duty to 



248 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

others. So of our duties to animals, their likeness to 
human beings is a question of degree. They are sensi- 
tive to pain and pleasure, and to this extent our sym- 
pathies go out to them and bind us to treat them hu- 
manely. 

Our morality is also much influenced by our knowl- 
edge of science. Without a scientific comprehension 
of our relations to others we have no guide in emer- 
gencies and in new situations. 

In a loose and vague way, morality is made to define 
all of human duty, and in discussing the subject much 
confusion arises from the different definitions which 
different parties give to it. While one is urging the 
importance of duty toward God, the other is thinking 
about duty toward men, the trouble arising from con- 
founding religious and moral duties. We are thus care- 
ful to give the exact limits to the subject, as we regard 
it, so that vexed questions not germane to it may be 
excluded, and so that the attention may be confined to 
the precise subject under consideration. Should an ob- 
jection be made that our definition is not sufficiently 
comprehensive, we reply that we will in this chapter 
confine our discussion to that branch of morals which 
considers human relations. 

Morals thus defined, while restricted to that which 
is human, in its applications includes the whole field of 
social activities ; and upon its principles only can any 
rational system of civil government or political economy 
be established. 

Basis of Morals. — Every human being has needs 
inherent in his being, and directly depending upon the 
fact of his existence. These needs create demands that 



MORAL CULTURE. 249 

must be satisfied, or his existence soon terminates. For 
example, he needs to eat, to breathe, and to preserve a 
given temperature ; and food, air, and warmth must be 
at his command, or life, which is his bj the divine right 
of being, ceases. 

Extent of Needs. — These needs are coextensive with 
the whole nature of man, physical, mental, and moral. 
He needs physical agencies, that his body may grow, at- 
tain strength, and be kept in health ; he needs materials 
of study and guidance, that his mind may be nurtured ; 
and he needs good example, social intercourse, and in- 
struction in regard to conduct, that his moral sensibili- 
ties may be made acute and excited to action. 

Equality of Needs. — Differences in environment, in 
civilization, in national characteristics, and in individual 
character, would seem to indicate a difference in needs. 
Indeed, many needs are brought into existence only by 
the development of the individual or the race. But 
the general needs of all are the same, and the special 
needs are the same under the same conditions. Poten- 
tially, then, the needs of one human being are exactly 
equal to those of any other human being. 

Basis of Rights. — The demands flowing from these 
needs give rise to individual rights ; and to every need 
there is a corresponding right. "We have physical 
needs, and a right to all the physical agencies which the 
needs demand ; mental and moral needs, and a right to 
all the mental and moral agencies which these needs 
demand. The right of every human being to these 
agencies inheres in his very constitution, and is a part 
of his being ; and to deprive him of these rights would 
be to rob him of a portion of his life. 



250 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Basis of Duty. — But man is a social being, and, as 
a member of community, his existence is bound up 
with other existences. Relations are established which, 
while they restrict individual freedom on one side, 
vastly multiply individual power and possibility on the 
other. His activities are supplemented by the activities 
of others. From his position as a member of society 
he receives help from others, and there devolves upon 
him an obligation to help others in turn. High-minded, 
sensitive persons are scrupulous in paying debts due 
to individuals, but few in all the world's records have 
realized their debt to society, in the past as well as in 
the present, and have honestly labored through life, 
sensible of the fact that at best they were paying the 
merest fraction of their obligations. The world's 
heroes and martyrs have, whether consciously or not, 
felt this sense of obligation, and the self -forgetful in 
all times have worked in the same spirit, though the 
majority of these have lived and died in obscurity. 
This obligation, which we call moral duty, is simply 
another name for his debt to society, and is the exact 
reciprocal of his individual rights, and there can be 
no possible right without a corresponding duty. 

Examples. — We all have a need of air, and, in con- 
sequence, a right to air. But, as air is supplied to us 
naturally in abundance, the only duty of others in re- 
gard to our supply is that they shall not interfere with 
it, either restricting its quantity or vitiating its quality. 
The duty in this case is negative. 

We all have a need of food, and consequently a right 
to food. This need is imperative at all times, and the 
right is just as inherent when we are infants or disabled 



MORAL CULTURE. 251 

as when we are able to procure our own food. It fol- 
lows that somebody must administer to our necessities 
while we are helpless ; and it equally follows that we 
should minister to others' necessities under like circum- 
stances. The duty of others to supply us with food, 
when able to do so ourselves, does not inhere, for the 
performance of such an act would be a sacrifice of their 
rights, and a consequent diminution of their ability to 
perform their real duty. This duty to serve others is 
positive. 

Negative mid Positive Duties. — Moral duties are 
thus seen to be twofold — negative, leading to a respect 
for the rights of others, and positive, demanding service. 
Respect for rights implies that our every act, in which 
others are interested, or which in any way affects oth- 
ers, shall be based upon the principle that every human 
being has potentially the same rights as ourselves ; while 
service demands that we shall actively supply needs 
when by so doing we shall promote human welfare. 

The demands of negative duty are imperative, that 
we shall refrain from injuring the quality or diminish- 
ing the quantity of our neighbor's food ; from injuring 
his person ; from converting his property to our own 
use ; from restricting his liberty to think and to form 
opinions for himself ; from imputing to him unworthy 
motives in differences of opinion ; and from diminish- 
ing his opportunities to earn his own living by misin- 
terpreting his acts and misrepresenting his motives. 

The demands of positive duty are equally impera- 
tive. They require of us tender nurture for every 
child, wise and adequate provision for the sick and 
unfortunate, and affectionate care for the aged who 
18 



252 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

have finished life's work. Duty, as thus defined, is 
the embodiment of that ethical law known as the 
" Golden Rule," and our constant endeavor should be 
to make this rule a practical reality. 

Standard of Moral Duty. — In every act that comes 
within the domain of morals there are two parties, the 
actor and the receiver of the action. The actor may 
perform his duty or he may neglect it. If he acts in 
such a manner as he thinks will conduce to human 
welfare, then the act from his point of view is right. 
If his motive is malicious, then the act from his point 
of view is wrong. He may through ignorance do seri- 
ous injury by the very act which he intended as a 
benefit, and which from his point of view was right. 
From the point of view of the receives the action is 
good if it promotes welfare, had if harm is the result. 

In every moral act there is then a double judgment, 
the one considering its results upon the person directly 
affected or upon the world at large, and the other deal- 
ing with the motive of the actor, and, in case of bad 
results, passing judgment upon his innocence or guilt. 
The highest morality, or the interests of society as a 
whole, demands that not only should an action be right, 
springing from good motives, but that it should also be 
good, producing beneficent results. 

The fact is constantly forced upon us that, with the 
best of intentions, persons are constantly performing 
acts injurious to those affected by them, and we are led 
to inquire into the cause of the evil results, and to ascer- 
tain what element besides good motive should enter into 
moral action. 

Concrete Examples— A mother desires the welfare 



MORAL CULTURE. 253 

of her child, and is unwearied in her care and devotion. 
By continual self-sacrifice, she gratifies its every desire 
and caprice, until she develops in it selfishness to such 
a degree as to entirely vitiate its character. 

A father, in his desire to repress all evil tendencies 
in his child, threatens and cajoles by turns, is terribly 
severe or forgetful of his promises, and the child grows 
up, very acute as to parental moods, but with little con- 
trol of temper and with little regard to truth. 

A teacher, intent upon securing good conduct and 
intellectual progress upon the part of his pupils, visits 
each offense of omission or commission with severe pen- 
alties, thus stifling affection and developing in them 
ideas of brutality and revenge. 

A physician desires to relieve the pain of his patient, 
and effect a speedy cure ; yet, by a mistake in the nature 
of the case, or in the medicine used, he administers a 
poison which aggravates the disease or terminates the 
life. 

The captain of a ship, in stress of weather, to pre- 
vent his vessel from foundering, battens down the 
hatchways, and, when the storm has passed, finds his 
passengers smothered, his measures to preserve their 
lives having caused their death. 

A clergyman, impressed by the tremendous conse- 
quences of an impenitent life, visits a sick man, and by 
his endeavors to save, produces a nervous exhaustion 
which results in death. 

Factors of Morality. — In all these cases the motives 
have been good while the results have been evil ; and 
we see that by a wiser judgment, coming from a higher 
intelligence, the evils might have been avoided. The 



254: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

factors of morality are thus seen to be good motive and 
intelligence^ the highest morality demanding both in 
the highest degree. 

Good motive is a fixed factor. It is the disposition 
to do right, or to perform the acts demanded by duty, 
and is of the highest importance in determining con- 
duct. It may exist in individuals mixed more or less 
with selfish desires and propensities, but in essential 
character it is always the same. 

Intelligence, on the contrary, differs with the indi- 
vidual, the age, and the race. "With advancing civiliza- 
tion, ideas of what conduces to human welfare change, 
and the morality of one age is considered very imper- 
fect in the next. Absolute morality must be associated 
with infinite wisdom. 

Individual Morality. — The demands of morality 
upon every individual are that he should perform every 
duty that devolves upon him, both negative and posi- 
tive ; that, in every act in which others are concerned, 
he should consider their welfare equally with his own ; 
that in every case his acts should conform to his highest 
intelligence, and that he should neglect no opportunity 
to become more intelligent. 

Moral Instruction in Schools. — The foregoing 
analysis shows the nature of the problem which we are 
to solve in education, and serves as a guide in regard 
to the methods to be pursued in making moral instruc- 
tion a part of the school course. Without discussing 
the question whether the disposition to do right comes 
from the operation of a single faculty of the mind, or 
is the resultant of the combined action of several facul- 



MORAL CULTURE. 255 

ties, we assume this position as incontrovertible, that 
moral power, like physical and intellectual power, is de- 
veloped by exercise, and can be greatly increased by 
systematic training. 

Force of Example. — " As is the teacher so is the 
school," is an old adage. Children are imitative beings, 
and, consciously or unconsciously, they copy the man- 
ners of those with whom they are associated. If the 
teacher is domineering, discourteous, and unjust, 
through the operation of this imitative propensity the 
pupils will show the same traits ; and, unless corrected 
by some strong counteracting influence, they will be- 
come life-habits. On the contrary, if the teacher is 
reasonable, kind, just, and courteous, the same imitative 
propensity will lead the pupils to copy these traits, and 
to form corresponding habits. 

The manners and habits of the teacher are thus seen 
to be of fundamental importance in moral training. 
Trustees and directors of schools cannot be too careful 
in the selection of teachers ; and teachers, knowing that 
example is one of the most powerful of all the agencies 
operating upon childhood, should carefully scrutinize 
their own conduct, and see that every act not only 
springs from the right motive, but that it be performed 
in such a manner as to carry the conviction of its motive 
to the minds of the pupils. 

Manners. — In this connection, it may be observed 
that manners are intimately associated with morals ; 
that the expression of the act, as well as the act itself, 
has its moral bearings. Kindliness will generate its 
like, even if uncouthly expressed ; but it will make a 
much more favorable and lasting impression if it is 



256 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

shown in such an easy and appropriate way that no part 
of the attention is turned from the act itself to the 
manner in which the act is performed. There should 
be no occasion that the admiration for moral goodness 
should be accompanied by excuses for coarse language 
and improprieties of attitude and gesture. 

Example of Ill-Manners. — Dr. Samuel Johnson was 
noted for his kindliness and for his sympathies with 
imperfect and suffering humanity. His writings are 
full of the most elevated sentiments, and in all his 
works there is nothing ignoble. So tender was his con- 
science that, in middle life and at the height of his re- 
nown, he made a pilgrimage to his native town of 
Uttoxeter, and stood all day, with head uncovered, in 
the open market place, to atone for refusing a request 
of his father in boyhood. All admired the greatness of 
his genius and the goodness of his heart; yet in his 
social intercourse he was loud, overbearing, and often 
insolent, and at the table his manner of eating was so 
gross as to excite universal disgust. To his intimate 
associates the coarseness of his manners in a great meas- 
ure nullified the pleasure which the brilliancy of his 
conversation created, and the influence which his wis- 
dom merited. 

Limit of Responsibility. — As the influence of home 
and of general society is much greater than that of the 
school, the teacher can be held responsible for results 
only so far as his own influence extends. If that in- 
fluence, both directly and indirectly, has always been in 
favor of the highest moral excellence, no blame can at- 
tach to him if other and adverse influences, over which 
he has no control, have proved stronger than his own. 



MORAL CULTURE. 257 

Moral Sensibility. — The moral sensibilities of pupils 
should be awakened and made acute. To this end, in 
all social intercourse they should be taught to respect 
the rights of others to freedom of opinion, as well as to 
the control of their own persons and property. They 
should be made to see that the hoyden game, so com- 
mon, where one pupil takes hold of another without his 
consent, is a violation of personal rights. The care of 
older pupils for the young, and of the strong for the 
weak, should be encouraged, as developing in them 
ideas antagonistic to mere selfish gratification. Bully- 
ing and outrage on the part of the strong should be re- 
pressed, gently but firmly, and an endeavor should be 
made to eradicate all tendencies in this direction. All 
selfishness should be made odious to the one exhibiting 
it, by contrasting the act with one of an opposite char- 
acter, and all unselfish acts should receive from the 
teacher a quiet recognition that the pupil can well un- 
derstand. By continual vigilance, stimulating right 
conduct and repressing wrong, a public sentiment will 
be developed in the school in the direction of justice 
and kindliness, and the discipline of the school will go 
on by the action of social forces without the direct in- 
terference of the teacher. The good conduct which 
this public sentiment demands will gradually become a 
settled habit, lasting through life. 

Incidental Moral Lessons. — Pestalozzi's first expe- 
rience as a teacher was at Stanz, where he had the en- 
tire care of a hundred destitute children living in an 
old convent. The accommodations were poor and the 
food coarse and scanty. "While there a fire took place 



258 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

in the neighboring village of Altdorf, by which a large 
number of people were rendered homeless. The sudden 
calamity called for immediate relief. Pestalozzi gave 
an account of the fire to the pupils, and described the 
destitution which had followed. He told them how 
many little children like themselves were suffering from 
cold and hunger. When their sympathies were excited, 
he asked, " Can we do anything to relieve this suffer- 
ing ? " Several of the pupils at once proposed that the 
children be invited to Stanz as members of their own 
little community. " But," said Pestalozzi, " if they 
come they must share your accommodations and food, 
and, in consequence, your own comforts will be less, 
and probably many times you will not have food enough 
to satisfy your hunger." 

The pupils, however, insisted, and the invitation 
was given and accepted. Not a single murmur was 
ever heard in consequence of the privations which this 
act entailed. On the contrary, the guests were eagerly 
welcomed, and treated with special marks of respect 
and honor. This lesson in practical benevolence sank 
deep into their hearts, enriching and ennobling their 
lives for all time ; and the event goes into history and 
literature as a monument to the wisdom of the teacher 
and the acute moral sensibility of the school, and as an 
incentive to higher endeavor on the part of all teachers. 

Incidents arise in every school which the skillful 
teacher may turn to good advantage in inculcating a 
moral lesson. A child has lost his dinner ; who will 
share theirs with him ? Who will contribute to the 
cleanliness, the comfort, and the adornment of the 
schoolhouse ? Who will refrain from injuring or soil- 



MORAL CULTURE. 259 

ing the schoolhouse in any way ? Not a day or an hour 
passes without affording an opportunity for repressing 
actions that will give pain to others, or for the perform- 
ance of acts that will give pleasure to others. The 
attendance at school of a deformed child, or one so dif- 
fering from the others as to attract attention, may be 
made the occasion for deep and lasting moral impres- 
sions, and the school-life of the unfortunate may be 
made so pleasant by the affectionate attitude of his 
schoolmates as to compensate, to a large extent, for the 
privations which his unfortunate condition entails. A 
case of destitution in the neighborhood may occasion 
the voluntary offer of service which requires sacrifice 
of pleasure, time, and comfort ; and when this is accom- 
plished a great step is gained in the triumph of duty 
over selfishness. 

" The Holy Supper is kept indeed, 
In whatso we share with another's need ; 
Not that which we give but what we share, 
For the gift without the giver is bare ! " 

Care must be taken by the teacher, in all such cases, 
that the good deed has a distinct recognition ; and care 
must also be taken that the feeling excited, and the 
consequent benevolent action, shall be directed to cases 
of real distress ; for misapplied benevolence and sacri- 
fice always lead to evil results. 

Negative Results. — The moral sensibilities of pupils 
may be blunted or destroyed by unwise action on the 
part of teachers. An unmerited punishment may in- 
flict an injury for life. Dr. Carpenter says : " Nothing 
tends so much to prevent the healthful development of 
the moral sense as the infliction of punishment which 



260 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

the child feels to be unjust ; and nothing retards the 
acquirement of the power of directing the intellectual 
processes so much as the emotional disturbance which 
the feeling of injustice provokes." A pupil accustomed 
to see others treated brutally becomes hardened, and 
loses that acute sympathy with suffering which is the 
impelling force to service when such duty is demanded. 
In cases where brutality is frequent, children may learn 
even to take delight in suffering, thus nullifying moral 
culture, reversing the moral law, and developing a de- 
moniac rather than a moral character. Denunciations, 
sarcastic remarks calculated to wound the sensibilities, 
scoldings, uncharitableness, exhibitions of favoritism, 
unnecessary rules and commands, and all forms of ca- 
price upon the part of the teacher, have a tendency to 
produce these negative moral results in the minds of 
the pupils. By a careless discipline and a slip-shod ad- 
ministration of justice in school, children grow up with 
little idea of self-control, with their regulative faculties 
entirely undeveloped, and they often pass through life 
intent upon the gratification of personal desires, but en- 
tirely insensible to the welfare of others. 

Labor and Service. — To arouse moral sensibility is 
one thing, to direct it in the channels of proper expen- 
diture is quite another. The feeling of sympathy which 
has been developed may be wasted in mere sentiment, 
as when a tale of suffering causes tears, and tears only ; 
or it may be expended upon unworthy objects as when 
alms are given to professional beggars, directly encour- 
aging idleness and vice ; or it may be expended in cases 
where it relieves distress or encourages worthy and no- 
ble effort. In the latter case only does the act make 



MORAL CULTURE. 261 

its proper impression, and the feeling become an ele- 
ment of character. It is incumbent on the teacher, 
then, not only to arouse sensibilities but to direct them 
to legitimate ends, to encourage the conversion of sym- 
pathetic feeling into acts of service. The importance 
of securing the manifestation of kindly intentions in 
muscular action can scarcely be overestimated. 

One of the first lessons in unselfishness which a child 
learns is when it performs an act of real service for its 
parents, and the glow of pleasure which results from a 
knowledge that it is a service, and is recognized as such, 
leads to a repetition of similar acts. The teacher may 
make use of this principle of action, and stimulate the 
moral powers, by asking little acts of service ; though 
the requests of this character should not be too fre- 
quent, nor should they convey the idea that they are 
made through the indolence of the teacher. 

Caution. — Every emotion has its natural and proper 
channel of expenditure. Pity for suffering finds its 
proper expenditure in acts of relief. To witness dis- 
tress that we cannot in any way alleviate is to excite 
sensibilities which cannot be properly expended, and 
the effect is an intellectual and moral derangement. 
The aroused emotion may react, producing physical and 
mental prostration, or it may be expended in channels 
quite different from the legitimate one. For example, 
the sight of squalor, sordidness, and misery, which can- 
not be relieved, may excite an emotion of pity, which 
may assume the form of frenzy, and expend itself in 
rage ; or the emotion may expend itself in sensual in- 
dulgence, and the person seek relief in the f orgetfulness 
of intoxication. 



262 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

In his endeavors to excite moral action, the teacher 
should take care to avoid cases of this character, when 
the emotion excited cannot be expended in legitimate 
acts of relief. To this end details of stories of horrible 
destitution and suffering, of fire and shipwreck, of rail- 
road accidents, and of war and pestilence, should be 
avoided altogether. 

Recognition of Well-Doing. — In the matter of 
recognition of well-doing, two extremes are to be 
avoided. By praise, the pupil loses the glow of satis- 
faction that comes from an unselfish performance of 
service which has afforded relief or assistance to others, 
and there is substituted for it a self-satisfaction, in 
which the virtue of the act and the praise are mingled ; 
but, bj repeating the process, the pleasure derived from 
the praise becomes more pronounced, until the quality 
of the act is lost sight of in the desire to secure the 
praise. 

On the other hand, if service is received with entire 
indifference, the pupil has little guide as to the nature 
of the acts which he performs, and little encourage- 
ment to persevere in well-doing. With an adult, whose 
judgment has been matured by experience, the matter 
of recognition may be of little or no importance in the 
performance of duty ; but with children it is one of the 
most potent forces which urges them to action, and 
which leads them to discriminate between desirable and 
undesirable acts. 

This recognition may be made by a glance of the 
eye, a modulation of tone, or a word of approbation, 
which, adjusted to time and circumstance, will make 
deep impressions, and become powerful incentives to a 



MOKAL CULTURE. 263 

repetition of similar acts in the future. In this recog- 
nition motives should be considered, and the praise 
should not be withheld even if the service has not been 
productive of good. In case of evil results, the faults 
of judgment may be pointed out, with no censure either 
expressed or implied. In the bestowal of approbation 
a strict impartiality should be observed toward all. 
The sensibilities of children are often wounded, and 
the moral tone of the whole school lowered, by praise 
and censure bestowed through caprice or favoritism. 

School Government. — All the agencies used to se- 
cure good order and good conduct in school should be 
considered only as means for moral instruction and 
training. The objective point in all school government 
is to so develop the regulative powers of each pupil 
that unruly desires and passions are kept within their 
legitimate sphere ; that the lower propensities are 
brought under the control of the higher sentiments ; 
and that good conduct be the result of a growth from 
within, rather than of an enforcement from without. 
The end is entirely a moral one, and all considerations 
outside of the strict letter of moral relations should be 
discarded as obstructive to this end and as demoralizing 
to the school. 

Obstructive Considerations. — In times past there has 
been great effort wasted in the supposed necessity of 
" sustaining the dignity of the teacher," of " vindicating 
the majesty of the law," and of " maintaining order for 
order's sake." All these considerations disapj)ear when 
we see the character of the relations which exist between 
teacher and pupil, and fully understand that all policies 



264 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

in regard to government are to be settled solely upon 
moral grounds. The question which the teacher should 
ask, when he performs an act toward an individual pu- 
pil, or devises a measure that affects the school, is the 
same that morality demands should be asked upon all 
occasions when an act is contemplated in which others 
are interested : " "Will this act conduce to the welfare 
of those affected by it, or to general welfare ? " If this 
question is answered in the affirmative, then the act is 
right, and the result will be beneficial, provided the re- 
lations in all particulars have been fully comprehended. 
If the question is answered in the negative, then the 
act is wrong, and no considerations of dignity, law, or 
order can make it right, or justify the purpose in per- 
forming it. 

We may say, in passing, that if the attention of the 
teacher is solely directed to moral aims ; if he sincerely 
wishes to promote the welfare of his pupils, and has 
the intelligence requisite to understand the moral ques- 
tions involved in his relations and acts ; and if, acting 
upon these principles, he adjudicates each case as it 
arises in the spirit of justice and kindness : incidentally 
he will better maintain his own dignity, vindicate the 
law, and sustain order, than though he should conscious- 
ly devote himself to these ends. 

Changes desirable. — With the moral idea dominant, 
that inflexibly demands good motive as prompting to 
every act, and is content with nothing less than good 
results, and with the old crude ideas of the nature of 
school government and of the exceptional position of 
the teacher eliminated, all the old brutal notions in re- 
gard to methods of maintaining order will disappear, 



MORAL CULTURE. 265 

and the reign of justice will supersede the reign of 
force. 

The highest morality demands, npon the part of the 
teacher, a genuine desire to make every act tell for the 
benefit of his pupils ; a knowledge of relations which 
will enable him to wisely adapt means to ends ; a f or- 
getfulness and subordination of self in the work in 
which he is engaged ; and an original force of character 
which will assert itself, and exact that deference which 
is due worth and worth only. He must not only 
feel kindly but he must make kindliness felt ; he must 
not only deal justly but he must enthrone justice, and 
make it so altogether lovely as to exact a willing 
homage of all. Courteous in his intercourse with his 
pupils, he receives courtesy in return ; kindly in his 
feelings, he begets kindness in them ; just in his acts, 
he creates a sentiment of justice as a fundamental mo- 
tive ; patient and gentle in his manners, he elevates and 
refines ; zealous in his work, he kindles enthusiasm and 
awakens aspiration ; devoted to the welfare of others, 
he checks selfishness and induces a noble emulation for 
the attainment of the higher life. 

Restraint. — Evil conduct must not be permitted, 
but the teacher must discriminate in regard to its char- 
acter, and give to each case its appropriate treatment. 
Habits of self-indulgence must be broken up by inciting 
to active services ; selfishness must be counteracted by 
exciting sympathy for others ; and thoughtlessness must 
be cured by the inflexible demand that atonement must 
be made for the fault. Teachers must also keep in 
mind that bad conduct is more frequently the result of 
moral ignorance, or of physical disability, than of moral 



266 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

depravity, and calls for instruction rather than censure 
or punishment. Turbulence, violence, and open dis- 
regard of common decorum must be restrained by 
physical means, if others fail, until opportunity is given 
for the operation of moral influences and the awaken- 
ing of moral powers. 

Indirect Moral Influences. — So far the practical 
course of moral instruction recommended has been 
mainly incidental. The teacher's work has been to 
surround the pupil with influences and agencies calcu- 
lated to awaken and strengthen moral impressions, and 
to check selfish propensities. The pupils insensibly im- 
bibe and assimilate moral sentiments. Their moral na- 
ture is developed through affection which is awakened 
by parental and friendly care ; through imitation when 
they witness unselfish acts on the part of others ; through 
sympathy with suffering and distress whenever cases of 
the kind come to their notice ; and through experience 
which progressively enables them to put themselves in 
another's place, and so fully realize the results of their 
own action. Moral actions practised during the school- 
days crystallize into principles and become fixed habits, 
which not only regulate moral conduct in specific 
cases, but which finally so take possession of the 
whole being as to make moral action instinctive and 
unconscious. 

Dangers of Neglect. — A neglect of this indirect 
moral teaching is fatal to the formation of the highest 
character. Habits of self-indulgence formed in child- 
hood are seldom or never fully eradicated. While it is 
comparatively easy to give direction to the unfolding 
thought and to the unformed habits, the bent once es- 



MORAL CULTURE. 267 

tablished, and the vital currents flowing in a given way, 
a change can be effected only by violent effort, and by 
a great loss of power. In point of time the incidental 
instruction should precede formal moral instruction, so 
that when the time has come for the demonstration of 
moral principles, an appeal may be made directly to 
consciousness and experience. As in all other branches 
of thought and activity, the art precedes the science ; 
and the philosophic principles which the science unfolds 
are derived directly from the art which has insensibly 
grown and been put in practice during all the years of 
conscious existence. 

Direct Moral Teaching. — The moral impressions 
made by the indirect method of teaching need be sup- 
plemented by direct lessons bearing upon the same sub- 
ject. The emotions arising from sympathy should be 
supplemented by an intelligence in regard to the cir- 
cumstances which excited them, and to the methods in 
which they may be properly expended. Moral art 
should finally terminate in moral science. 

In teaching moral science, the same laws prevail as 
in teaching other branches. The mind must first be 
trained to observe, compare, and classify facts, and then 
to draw inferences from them. These inferences will 
successively become more abstract, until they arrive at 
the most comprehensive moral law ; and the law de- 
rived from observation and experience can be taken as a 
guide in new experiences. 

Precept and Practice. — Precept has but little influ- 
ence upon the mind in awakening the moral nature. 
Homilies, the repetition of moral rules and sentiments, 
19 



268 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

and what pupils call " preaching," disgust the child and 
deaden the moral sensibilities. The truth embodied in 
the precept is usually so general in its character that 
it weighs little against concrete wants and personal 
desires. The lesson sought to be enforced, having no 
root in experience, takes but feeble hold of the mind. 
Repetition only intensifies the difficulty. The words, 
which at first had little meaning, soon become a mere 
formula with no more sense than a succession of inar- 
ticulate sounds. Finding that the formula is considered 
important, independent of his ability to comprehend it, 
the pupil falls into the habit of regarding the words 
and of neglecting the thoughts which the words were 
designed to convey, a habit fatal to both intellectual 
and moral improvement. Before a moral precept can 
be fully comprehended, the moral sensibilities must be 
aroused in the direction of that particular truth, and 
the sensibility exhibited by some beneficent deed. 

Use of Common Incidents. — Besides their indirect 
use, as has already been indicated, common incidents 
may be made the texts of direct moral lessons. Some 
event has happened in the neighborhood, or is related 
in the newspapers, in which the pupils take a lively in- 
terest. The matter is taken up and discussed before 
the class or the school. All the facts bearing upon the 
case are given. Conflicting statements are harmonized 
as far as possible. The whole is made into a continu- 
ous narrative, so that the relations of the facts may be 
seen. The pupils assist in the process. Their sym- 
pathy is excited, and they are called upon to pass judg- 
ment upon the different acts, the probable motive of 
the actor, and the effect of the acts upon all the parties 



MORAL CULTURE. 269 

interested. Such a process accustoms the pupil to look 
at the moral side of every act ; and by it three things 
are accomplished — moral feeling is aroused, intellectual 
approval of the right course is secured, and a stimulus 
is given to practical good conduct. 

Sometimes controversies arising in the school itself 
may be made the occasion for deriving important moral 
inferences. The school may be organized into a court, 
in which testimony is taken and decisions rendered. In 
exercises employing common incidents connected with 
the school or neighborhood, great care must be taken 
to avoid subjects which will arouse prejudice and ill- 
feeling, or will array the school in opposing factions. 

Use of Literature. — For the purpose of illustrating 
a moral truth, suitable literary selections may be substi- 
tuted for the formal reading lessons of the text-book. 
With study and care selections may be made, that are 
adapted to any grade of school, and to almost any spe- 
cial occasion. The value of the lessons derived from 
these exercises is in direct ratio to the interest which 
may be excited in discussing them. A mere reading of 
the most exalted sentiments without note or comment 
is productive of little good. Such a practice is equiva- 
lent to the teaching of morals by precept, the ideas fail- 
ing to reach the mind, and the words producing only 
reflex nervous action. It is in its power to awaken 
interest and stimulate the imagination that literature 
excels as a moral force. 

Besides the immediate moral lesson to be derived 
from these literary selections, a great good arises from 
making the pupil familiar with the best productions of 
the world, increasing his intellectual grasp and filling 



270 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

his mind with noble thoughts and images. The taste 
is also cultivated, and both feeling and judgment unite 
in giving preference to that which is pure and ele- 
vating. 

A buse of Literature. — Nothing is more fatal to in- 
tellectual and moral growth than a familiarity with low 
and sensational literary works. The mind is kept in a 
state of dreamy indolence, or of a feverish unrest. In- 
terest is excited in unreal and impossible events, and 
abnormal desires are awakened which cannot be grati- 
fied in the ordinary process of human affairs. Like the 
growth of a poisonous fungus, the taste for this litera- 
ture absorbs the vital forces and destroys all that is 
noble in life. It awakens no moral sentiment and ren- 
ders the mind impatient of all kinds of moral restraint. 
It ends by the complete destruction of the regulative 
powers, and the surrender of the whole being to im- 
pulse and caprice. To prevent this disastrous result, 
ceaseless effort should be made to cultivate a taste for 
the works of the great masters of human thought. Ex- 
perience shows that the mind is best protected from the 
degradation of gross and impure thoughts by furnish- 
ing it ample material for activity in unselfish and im- 
personal" directions. 

Use of Biographies. — There can be no more effect- 
ive stimulus to patriotism than the story of the trials, 
the sufferings, and the sacrifices of our fathers in grap- 
pling with Nature, in converting a savage wilderness 
into fruitful fields, and in engaging in a long and des- 
perate war rather than submit to a policy which de- 
prived them of their just rights. The struggles of 
heroes for their country's freedom, the more obscure 



MORAL CULTURE. 271 

struggles of brave men for individual liberty, the 
sufferings of martyrs for conscience' sake, and the 
battles and triumphs of truth everywhere all tend to 
excite deep emotion, and a warm admiration for an un- 
selfish devotion to truth. These records may be made 
the inspiration of childhood in very tender years. The 
picture of Sir Philip Sydney, mortally wounded, mo- 
tioning away the cup of water from his parched lips, to 
relieve the thirst of a dying soldier " because his 
needs are greater than mine," is one of such moral 
grandeur that it ennobles every heart where the lesson 
finds lodgment. 

Use of History. — The study of history may be 
made to bear directly upon morals. The acts of dif- 
ferent personages in history may be carefully examined 
in connection with surrounding conditions and rela- 
tions ; and from all the circumstances, inference may 
be drawn in regard to the motives which prompted the 
acts, and to the effect of the acts upon the community. 
Comparisons may be instituted between the careers of 
different persons, both in regard to motive and influ- 
ence. The effect of personal character, whether selfish 
or unselfish, upon the nation or the age should receive 
particular attention. From individuals the examination 
may be carried to policies as affecting national welfare, 
and to the general character and career of nations as 
affecting civilization and the world. 

History should also be presented in such a way as 
to show how national greatness and national decay have 
largely depended upon moral causes. It should deal 
with principles and show the inevitable result of con- 
duct, whether of individuals or nations ; and, finally, it 



272 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

should show the gradual change of the existing nations 
of the earth, from a state of barbarism where brute 
strength was the only element of control, to that of 
civilization where moral and intellectual forces are pro- 
gressively becoming more powerful. 

Defects in Historical Study. — Much of that which 
passes as historical study is of little value from the 
moral point of view. The process of committing texts 
to memory in historical study is directly antagonistic to 
moral as well as to intellectual progress. So great a 
stress is laid upon words that the meaning becomes of 
secondary importance, or is altogether neglected ; the 
mind fails to notice relations in which morals have their 
root, and there results a mental habit which overlooks 
relations everywhere. The mere chronologies of na- 
tions, the details of battles, and the succession of dynas- 
ties, by themselves, are of little importance for mental 
development or practical guidance, or as a stimulant to 
good conduct. The study which contents itself with 
the mere facts of history, without considering their re- 
lations and significance, lacks all those elements which 
give to history its greatest value, and is unworthy of 
practice in any intelligent system of teaching. 

Moral Science. — With the more advanced classes 
the inductions and inferences which have been made 
from the practice and the objective study of morals 
may be brought together, and presented in a subjective 
form, constituting the science of morals. The princi- 
ples of morals, as given in the beginning of this chap- 
ter, should be thoroughly treated and illustrated. 
The limits of moral action and the field of moral duty 
should be strictly defined. The sequence and depend- 



MORAL CULTURE. 273 

ence of needs, rights, and duties should be brought to 
the comprehension of all. The standard of moral 
judgment should be made so familiar that its use would 
become an ordinary habit of the mind, and an analysis 
of the moral character of an act would antedate the 
act itself, with the certainty and celerity of automatic 
action. The pupil should be made to see and feel 
that beneficent motive is a necessary element in every 
life worth living ; that consideration for the welfare of 
others is just as much a necessity as attention to per- 
sonal welfare ; and that one of the great purposes of 
life is to adjust our acts so that the desire to promote 
human welfare shall always be attained to its fullest 
extent. 

This view of human duty makes personal and pub- 
lic welfare identical, and shows that their apparent an- 
tagonism has grown out of unintelligent and imperfect 
knowledge of human relations, and of practices in ac- 
cordance with such imperfect knowledge. It gives 
broader and higher ideas of life and its possibilities. 
Finding the basis of morals in the constitution of the 
universe, and hence in the constitution of the mind, 
the moral law has added weight and significance. It 
is not a rule from without, but is a law of our being, 
dependent as to its degree of perfection upon the de- 
velopment of the individual, and acting directly and 
involuntarily in the control of conduct. The educa- 
tion given in the school should, in a large measure, 
determine the elements that enter into and constitute 
that something we call character. So long as conduct 
requires outward restraint the end of education has 
not been attained, and only when conduct spontane- 



274 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

ously conforms to the true, the good, and the beautiful 
is character established. 

As will be readily understood, absolute perfection, en- 
tire adaptation to environment is not attainable. The 
facts of heredity alone, to say nothing of circumstance and 
condition in life, must always modify results. Yiewed 
in this light, the maxims of the sages, and the Golden 
Rule itself, have new meaning. They are no longer 
commands to be obeyed, but conditions to be observed. 
They no longer come as arbitrary mandates, thwarting 
our desires and abridging our freedom, but as the ex- 
pression and revelation of those beneficent relations by 
means of which alone can we attain fullness of life. 

Social Relations. — The intelligence specially de- 
manded as a guide to moral action is in regard to social 
relations. We need to know what will conduce to hu- 
man welfare, before we can decide what course to pur- 
sue as far as others are concerned. Knowing that with 
the purest of motives we are liable to make serious mis- 
takes unless we possess this antecedent knowledge, the 
study of sociology becomes a matter of necessity. Teach- 
ers who have made themselves familiar with the sub- 
ject will have no difficulty in interesting the pupils 
upon the questions involved. Perhaps at first short 
general exercises, once or twice a week, would be suffi- 
cient. In these exercises the various social problems 
should be clearly presented, leading the pupils to be- 
stow as much thought upon them as possible ; then they 
should be familiarly discussed, the pupils deciding them 
according to moral principles. 

The advantages gained by such a course are many. 



MORAL CULTURE. 275 

A new field of thought is opened to the pupil outside 
the ordinary routine of the schoolroom ; the reasoning 
powers are taxed to see all the relations involved, and 
to place all the facts in definite order ; the judgment is 
trained in making decisions in accordance with well- 
settled principles ; and the moral powers are awakened 
by the necessity of measuring all actions by the stand- 
ard of duty, and of considering all questions from the 
moral point of view. 

The Family. — At the basis of the whole social su- 
perstructure are the family relations. How shall duties, 
conjugal, parental, filial, and fraternal, be adjusted, so 
that in all family concerns there shall be the least waste 
of effort, an equable division af labor and cares, the 
least restriction of individual liberty, the most scrupu- 
lous care for individual rights, the greatest desire to be 
of service one to another, the most careful and generous 
nurture for children, and the highest and best opportu- 
nity for the development of a strong and noble charac- 
ter ? The general moral law affords the key for the 
perfect solution of these questions ; but the law needs 
be analyzed and specifically applied, to the end that the 
spirit of the law shall permeate the whole being, and 
moral habits be made deep and lasting. We would say 
in passing that a careful study in this direction will 
doubtless reveal the fact that hitherto in the world too 
much relative stress has been laid upon the duties of 
children to their parents, while too little attention has 
been given to the duties of parents to their children ; 
and this for the reason that books upon duty have been 
written by parents, and the children's side of the ques- 
tion has not been properly represented. 



276 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

General Society. — Next above the family come the 
interests of neighborhoods and general society. What 
are the relations that exist between us and our fellows 
in the same community, and what obligations rest upon 
us in consequence of these relations ? Why should we 
tell the truth, be honest in our dealings, keep our en- 
gagements, and fulfill our contracts ? The examination 
of this subject brings in all the questions relating to 
buyer and seller, employer and employe, and laborer 
and capitalist. With the development of the moral 
nature and intelligence in these directions, grinding 
oppression on the one hand, and brutal revolt on the 
other, would alike be impossible. It would be seen 
that the welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of 
all, and that to seek personal ends regardless of public 
good is to array against us the moral forces of the 
world. This subject covers the same field as law ; and 
so far as law is synonymous with justice, it is but an- 
other expression for morality. Indeed, the whole war- 
rant of law is found in moral relations, and the law is 
of benefit to man just so far as it embodies moral prin- 
ciples. 

Civil Government. — The social organization that 
takes the form of government represents one phase of 
human relations, and hence lies strictly within the field 
of morality. It has sometimes been said that legisla- 
tion has no right to touch moral subjects, but from the 
definition of morals we see that it can deal with no 
other. The just powers of government being derived 
from the consent of the governed, it follows that in 
kind the functions of government, its powers and duties, 
must coincide with the powers or rights and duties of 



MORAL CULTURE. 277 

the individual, and hence must have for its object, not 
only the protection of rights, but the performance of 
service. In degree the extent of these functions de- 
pends upon expediency. By expediency we mean that 
the people draw no hard and fast line when they, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, dele- 
gate certain of their powers and duties to an official 
class. The functions of government are therefore de- 
pendent upon the condition of society as existing at the 
time. A knowledge of the relations of government to 
community, of the powers and duties of civil rulers, of 
the limits of governmental action, and of the tests to 
be applied to statutes to decide upon their validity, 
must be antecedent to intelligent moral action in regard 
to these questions. It will be seen that a nullification 
of just laws, and a revolt from necessary restraint, pro- 
duce anarchy, which is the negation of morality ; while 
submission to unjust statutes subverts liberty and pre- 
vents moral development. All governmental work must 
be judged by moral standards. 

Practical Morality. — The mind having become en- 
lightened in regard to social relations, the moral law, 
which was objectively developed, may now be subject- 
ively applied, and taken as a guide to future conduct 
and in new experiences. Actions in particular cases 
need no longer be tentative, but they may be deliber- 
ately taken in the full assurance of beneficent result. 
Dependence upon the moral law may be made with the 
same assurance as upon gravitation. 

Applications in School. — In school the teacher 
should give to the moral law a wide and varied applica- 
tion to as many of the occurrences of daily life as pos- 



278 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

Bible, to accustom the pupils to examine the moral bear- 
ing of all their acts. "What moral principles are in- 
volved in cleanliness of person and clothing, and atten- 
tion to neatness and order in the room ? Is there 
anything immoral infringing dirt on the feet into the 
schoolroom or into the sitting-room at home ? or in 
neglecting to put things in their proper places ? or in 
carelessly breaking and destroying things ? What has 
morality to say in regard to interruptions of school 
order ? to play in study hours ? to inattention ? to neg- 
lect of study ? to waste of time ? 

The scope of the discussion may be widened by the 
introduction of questions like the following : Are amuse- 
ments necessary, and in accordance with the moral law ? 
"What of dancing, ball-playing, card-playing, and other 
games ? How much of our likings or dislikings of 
these amusements is the result of educational bias, and 
how much do they depend upon moral considerations ? 

What has morality to say in regard to lotteries, gam- 
bling, and horse-racing ? to drinking intoxicating liquor, 
and to making and selling the same ? To the use of 
tobacco, to overreaching in trade, to adulterations, to 
concealing defects in articles sold? 

What obligations rest upon every one to earn his 
own living ? Why should he not live upon the earn- 
ings of another ? Why should he be economical in ex- 
penditure ? What incentives are there to thrift, and 
forethought for the future ? What duty rests upon 
youth and maturity in regard to old age ? 

The solution of these questions cannot be obtained 
from a book, nor can they be dogmatically stated by 
the teacher. The value of these exercises depends upon 



MORAL CULTURE. 279 

their full and free discussion in class, the collection of 
facts made by the pupils bearing upon each case, the 
inferences derived from such facts, and the detection of 
fallacies of statement and inference. The teacher's 
work is principally directive, and he should avoid giving 
decisions with the air of authority, for the good to the 
pupils comes from the thought elicited, rather than 
from the conclusions stated. 

Results of Moral Training. — The outcome of this 
moral training in homes and in schools will be indi- 
vidual lives enriched, ennobled, and exalted ; selfishness 
duly controlled, and motive based upon considerations 
of human welfare ; intelligence informing in regard to 
relations and obligations, and guiding to beneficent re- 
sults ; homes in which the gratification of personal de- 
sires is always subordinated to the general good ; com- 
munities where human rights are sacred, and the patent 
of nobility is " service to humanity ; " States founded, 
upon individual purity, throwing their mantle of pro- 
tection around the humblest and weakest, furnishing 
opportunity for the most complete development of all, 
and establishing public justice upon the sure foundation 
of private character ; and the final realization of the 
prediction upon the advent of the great Teacher: 
" Peace on earth and good- will to men." 



CHAPTER XIY. 

GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 

In 1878, when this book was issued, the principles 
it advocates, although not in any sense new, and al- 
though accepted theoretically by many teachers, had 
not as a whole been embodied in any course of instruc- 
tion, nor applied systematically, except in the State 
Normal School at Warrensbiirg, Missouri. In 1872 
the author organized this school, selected the teachers, 
and for three years conducted it under circumstances 
peculiarly favorable to educational experiment. The 
State Superintendent and Board of Trustees gave him 
sympathetic support and entire freedom in devising 
his course of study, and also in choosing his teachers. 
A brief sketch of the school may be found by refer- 
ring to The Popular Science Monthly of February, 1889. 

The ends sought in this school, the aims set forth 
by the writer of this book and the methods suggested, 
have since then been widely accepted, here and there 
adopted, and in some instances developed along the 
lines indicated much further than was possible, for 
various reasons, in 1872 or 1878. 

At that time very few teachers could be found 
possessing the broad culture, the professional training, 

(280) 



GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 281 

and the sympathetic knowledge of children necessary 
in creating a harmonious school environment. Besides 
this, public opinion would permit only the most guard- 
ed and unobtrusive departures from the beaten track ; 
and much the largest share of the author's work was 
expended in enlightening public opinion through lec- 
tures. While the author based his treatise on biologi- 
cal and psychological science and on such a consensus 
of opinion as could then be ascertained, it is plain 
that a detailed course of study arranged at that time 
must now need a considerable revision in the light of 
further investigation by specialists in these fields. 

It is further to be considered that at present the 
various schools illustrating the principles herein advo- 
cated afford in their published reports valuable mate- 
rial for comparative study, and teachers are earnestly 
advised to profit by them. 

Principles to he taken as a Basis. — In preparing a 
" Course of Study " the following principles exempli- 
fied in the preceding chapters should, however, be kept 
in mind, and will serve as a guide in the selection and 
orderly presentation of the materials needed by the 
child for its nurture and discipline. The subject-matter 
will comprise the whole domain of Nature, including, 
as of course, man and his thoughts and works. The 
elements of these subjects are found in the experience 
of every child, and furnish the foundation for instruc- 
tion. The principles are : 

First: That the object of education is the har- 
monious development of all the powers and faculties 
of the child. 

Second : That the powers and faculties of the child 



282 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

should be cultivated in the exact order of their growth 
and relative activity. 

Third : That the perceptive faculties are the most 
active in childhood, and that the facts obtained through 
the senses are an essential foundation for instruction. 

Fourth : That the " object-lessons " used for the 
development of the perceptive faculties should be so 
arranged that by progressive steps they will lead di- 
rectly into the sciences and arts. 

Fifth : That " the mental circuit is not complete " 
until impression has passed on into expression. 

Sixth : That the order and the mode of expression 
should be governed by the natural activities of the 
child and by the order of their development. 

Seventh : That reason and judgment, the reflective 
faculties, are best developed by inferences derived from 
a wide basis of facts obtained through the senses, and 
assimilated by the aid of appropriate expression. 

Eighth : That the subjects of study should be so 
coordinated that each shall be complementary to every 
other, thus promoting harmony of development and 
intensity of impression. 

Ninth : That the studies and conditions which best 
unfold the capacities of the child are the studies and 
conditions which best fit him for his environment. 

Tenth : That the course of study for general de- 
velopment is substantially the same for all, irrespective 
of their future fields of activity. 

General Arrangement. — In the general arrange- 
ment six lines of instruction are carried forward 
throughout the course, two principal and four subor- 
dinate. The former are, first, Natural Science, treat- 



GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 283 

ing of the outward world ; second, the Humanities, a 
study of man in all his relations. These two are 
classed as principal because their value is intrinsic 
and independent ; they furnish the subject-matter for 
the exercise of the other four. 

The four subordinate lines may be classified under 
one general head. They are modes of expression when 
considered as arts, and are then to be acquired by 
doing. Interest in the subject-matter and imitation 
are the chief factors of success in the mastery of the 
arts of expression. The four divisions may be con- 
sidered, for purposes of instruction, under the following 
heads : Music, Language, Manual Arts, and Mathematics. 
Instruction in each has its time, place, and method, 
systematically correlated with its appropriate subject- 
matter in the two main lines provided by the course of 
study. By means of the four subordinate lines of in- 
struction the child uses the impressions and ideas he 
has derived from the two great realms of knowledge 
above indicated. ~ In using and expressing them he 
assimilates them, and is thus enabled, through the re- 
enforcement of his interests, to enter into possession of 
an ever- widening " circle of thought " and feeling, and 
thereby to re-create himself. 

The NaUiral Sciences. — These, systematically stud- 
ied, make the child intelligent in regard to his physical 
nature and environment. They furnish him with a 
knowledge of the conditions which he must observe 
for the preservation of life and health ; and also with 
the kind of knowledge which lies at the foundation 
of all productive industry. 

The materials for the study of these sciences are 

20 



284 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

found ready at hand, and every child before he enters 
the schoolroom has begun the study of Nature, 
prompted by his inherent activities. These natural 
activities, the collecting of objects, the handling and 
use of them in his plays, the observation of their quali- 
ties, and the expression of his feeling and thought in 
connection with them, are to be guided and encour- 
aged by the teacher in conformity with the require- 
ments of child nature, and will be found to corre- 
spond to the order of dependence in the sciences them- 
selves. 

Course in Science. — In arranging the topics for the 
scientific course two things are to be considered : first, 
the order of dependence of the sciences themselves; 
and, second, the order of dependence of the topics 
in each science. 

In the succession of the sciences it is obvious that 
mineralogy, botany, and zoology, treating of objects 
in the inorganic and organic world, should receive first 
attention. The order of precedence of the three is to 
be determined by the interest on the part of the child, 
and this will be found to attach itself first to objects 
having life, motion, brilliant color, and obvious use. 

Next after these sciences, which deal with objects, 
come physics and chemistry, treating of the forces 
which control matter in the mass and in atoms ; and, 
lastly, geology and astronomy, which grow out of and 
are based upon the preceding sciences. Geology, with- 
out chemistry to show the composition of the rocks, 
and without botany and zoology to interpret the mean- 
ing of the embalmed remains of organic life which 
they contain, is of little scientific yalue ; and astron- 



GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 285 

omy, without the laws and principles derived from 
physics, is an incomprehensible maze. 

Practically, however, as the sciences are so inter- 
woven that the elements of each are needed for ad- 
vance in every other, and, as in the primary classes, 
only the most obvious facts are presented, all branches 
of science are in some degree brought into the course 
of instruction from the beginning. 

In the more advanced classes each science is treated 
again upon successively higher planes, leading to more 
minute investigations and to broader scientific gener- 
alizations. 

Philosophy, or the Humanities. — In this one of the 
two main lines of instruction man is considered as a 
spiritual being. The Humanities treat of his activities 
as manifestations of thought and feeling. This line of 
instruction begins by a careful estimate, on the part 
of the teacher, of the habits and dispositions of the 
children. The material for instruction is found exist- 
ing in actions and situations arising in their daily lives ; 
and these experiences are extended and multiplied by 
means of stories, songs, ballads, myths, and fairy tales, 
appropriate to the existing instincts and interests of the 
children. 

For this reason the songs, the ballads, the tales, 
that have passed from mouth to mouth for centuries, 
and are heard to-day in almost the same words to 
which our ancestors listened on the slopes of the 
Hindoo-Koosh, are the best introduction into the 
Humanities. With the child, as with primitive peo- 
ples, the imagination has no definite limits ; reason and 
judgment, which in the mature mind curb and direct 



286 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

this faculty, are not well developed. The nations of 
antiquity were in many respects like children, espe- 
cially in their lack of accurate knowledge in the field of 
natural science. Their tales are full of life and move- 
ment, which appeal vividly to children, and the im- 
probabilities in no way offend the childish sense. 
Myths, fairy tales, fables, stories from the Bible, and 
from the Greek and Roman classics, will lead gradually 
into a systematic course in literature. 

The lessons in place will gradually lead into Geog- 
raphy, which treats of Nature on the one hand and of 
man upon the other. It treats of man as an inhabitant 
of the earth, of the races of men, and of their divi- 
sions and distributions. It considers man as a being 
acted upon by material forces and as an agent active in 
changing material conditions ; and, besides, it furnishes 
a general description of the works of man in his various 
fields of activity. 

The same conditions, circumstances, and events 
which on the imaginative side lead out into Literature, 
will on the narrative side lead into History, and must 
be kept closely correlated with Geography. Geography 
and Literature re-enforce each other. A fact or event 
in history, which through some chain of association 
has become of interest to the pupil, sets up in him a 
new interest, but he cannot thoroughly assimilate the 
historical narrative till he has located and visual- 
ized it. 

As to the extent to which the correlated studies, 
Literature, Geography, and History, should be carried, 
there is no hard and fast line to be drawn. Always, 
the possession of knowledge leads to further inquiry 



GENEKAL COURSE OF STUDY. 287 

and an insatiable desire to find related facts, and to 
this activity there is no limit, except the limits of prac- 
tical life, which demand that use must wait on attain- 
ment. The same consideration mnst control the course 
in the objective sciences. 

Civil Government, which treats of the organization 
of men into communities and states ; of the laws which 
control such organizations ; and of the different forms 
of government which have grown up out of varying 
conditions, is next in order. It should also be studied 
objectively in the local institutions, before attention is 
called to the more remote departments of government. 
Later in the light of mental and moral philosophy, 
the subject should be resumed under the head of Po- 
litical Economy, and from the history and conditions 
of society will be derived those general laws which 
best promote the welfare of communities. 

Mental Philosophy is the next general topic, turn- 
ing the attention from the objects of thought to thought 
itself, and the conditions of its vigorous and healthful 
exercise. It seeks to collect and observe the facts of 
mental development, to note their order of succession, 
and to consider the sequences in the activity of faculty, 
as related to educational methods, and to the ordering 
of the affairs of life. Higher in the course, this sub- 
ject is again considered, in its relation to the sciences, 
and its place as the indispensable keystone in the arch 
is shown. 

The subject of Moral Philosophy having received its 
objective treatment in every grade of the school, inci- 
dentally it is true, but the more effectually, is now to 
be considered logically and by analytic methods. In 



288 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

its essence it is shown to be a question as between 
beings of a like kind. True moral relations must have 
their origin in sympathy, and this in turn must have 
its origin in the feeling of likeness, the instinctive 
feeling with another, inherent in our spiritual consti- 
tution. A strong sense of needs on our part has its 
correlative in a strong sense of the needs of others. 
Obtuseness, dullness, inertness, insensibility to pain or 
pleasure is, on our own part, certain to be accompanied 
by indifference regarding others. A vigorous tenacity 
in maintaining our own rights has its correlative in a 
sensitive respect for the rights of others. This course 
of instruction in moral philosophy will show the growth 
of rights out of needs, of duties out of rights, and will 
thus furnish a basis for moral law. 

Next in order, as completing the mental circuit by 
giving play to the creative instincts of the mind, we 
find the four subordinate lines of instruction. The 
term subordinate must not be misconceived. It does 
not imply inferiority of importance, since expression or 
creation is a natural activity, without which little prog- 
ress can be made. Merely to acquire knowledge, to 
faiow, does not bring into exercise the whole mind, and 
hence the need for the Manual and Fine Arts, for 
Language and Mathematics. These are subordinate 
because they are dependent upon Science and the Hu- 
manities for their material. 

For the purposes of a Course of Study we must 
consider Music by itself, as a representative fine art. 
It is expressive of the emotional nature, and should 
receive special attention throughout the whole school 
life. In the primary department the exercises should 



GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 289 

consist of melodies that will give pleasure to the pupils ; 
that will progressively cultivate the musical taste ; and 
that will promote the general harmony of the school- 
room. Elementary exercises in the science of music 
also begin in the primary department. In the higher 
departments the art and science of music should be 
continued by means of a series of thoroughly objective 
lessons. The choice of Music as first in a course of 
study is not wholly arbitrary. All normally consti- 
tuted children are. early susceptible to harmonies of 
sound, although in a varying degree, and the mother 
instinctively cultivates this sensibility while seeking to 
soothe and charm the infant with song. The teacher 
in the primary school takes advantage of this already 
developed capacity, to establish harmonious relations 
between the members of the school dwelling together 
for the time being as one family. This would seem a 
good reason for giving music precedence in the pro- 
gramme. 

Language furnishes one means by which the facts 
and thoughts of science and philosophy are expressed. 
Although subordinate to thought, it is an inseparable 
accompaniment to it ; and, in the study of every branch 
of knowledge, language demands and receives a very 
large share of the time and attention. In the past it 
has monopolized in an undue degree the consideration 
of teachers, but in the reaction against this mistake we 
must not rush into the opposite extreme and neglect 
the most comprehensive of all the modes of expres- 
sion. 

The objective points in the study of language are 
accuracy and facility in the expression of thought, both 



290 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

orally and in writing. This mastery over language so 
that thought may be expressed in the best words, ar- 
ranged in the most effective order, is at once one of 
the most important elements of human power, and one 
of the most accurate tests of the possession of knowl- 
edge itself. The language lessons should be arranged 
so that expression shall have a solid basis in thought. 
The primary attention should in every case be fixed on 
the thought instead of on the expression. 

Skill in the use of language comes from a clear 
understanding of the thought, and from a continuous 
effort to express it in the most effective manner. Ap- 
propriate language must be as strictly required in oral 
as in written exercises. Every lesson and every school 
exercise should contribute to the pupil's power over 
language. 

Language as a means of expressing thought is best 
taught incidentally through its use. Language in its 
scientific relations and history is a branch of philosophy 
and belongs to the advanced course of instruction. 

Course in t Language. — The course in language 
should be arranged to include daily exercises both in 
speaking and writing, such as will insure a most thor- 
ough drill in the technical details of reading, spelling, 
and penmanship ; in the etymology of words ; and, 
finally, in the laws of construction as embodied in the 
rules of syntax. 

Use in Speaking. — The correct use of language in 
speaking is taught in the primary schools by means of 
questions which demand complete sentences for an- 
swer ; of lessons which require verbal description ; of 
stories told by teachers and reproduced by pupils ; and 



GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 291 

of original incidents related by pupils. The vocab- 
ulary is enlarged by giving a new word to express 
every new idea acquired, so that thought and expres- 
sion go hand in hand. These oral exercises are con- 
tinued for several years, and gradually give place to 
topical recitations, and in that form are continued 
throughout the entire school course. 

Use in Writing. — The correct use of language in 
writing is taught by exercises directly from objects, in 
which but a single fact is stated, forming a complete 
sentence, then two or more facts, until the whole de- 
scription is given in connected discourse. These de- 
scriptions are followed later by written narrations of 
incidents from daily life ; by reproduction of preceding 
lessons ; and by writing out the substance of at least 
one of the daily school lessons. 

In the more advanced classes these written exercises 
consist of the results of original investigations in 
natural history ; of historical and philosophical sketches 
derived from the study of books ; and, finally, of essays 
embodying the results of research and reflection. 

In these special language lessons pupils should be 
taught first to collect the facts bearing upon a subject ; 
second, to arrange them in a logical order ; and, third, 
to express them in well-considered discourse. 

The topics selected as themes for the formal written 
lessons in language should be closely connected with 
some subject studied at the time, or something that 
rounds out and complements the studies already pur- 
sued. Each of these themes is then thoroughly dis- 
cussed in the class as a preliminary to writing, so that 
the principle is practically enforced that well-arranged 



292 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

thought should precede all attempts at systematic ex- 
pression. 

The written exercises upon these elementary topics 
serve as a guide to all subsequent logical arrangement 
of thought; show the relations that exist between 
thoughts that are usually presented in a disconnected 
and fragmentary way ; and fix them in the mind 
more permanently by the processes of philosophic as- 
sociation. 

The events and questions of the day, as they are re- 
corded in newspapers and magazines, furnish matter 
for written exercises. This kind of study should be- 
gin with the neighborhood, extend to the State and 
nation, and finally be made to embrace all questions of 
national importance in the principal countries of the 
world. Through several grades of the intermediate 
department the leading occupations of men may be 
made the basis of written exercises. 

This method of study leads to a knowledge of the 
various branches of industry, and to their classification 
on the basis of their relative usefulness. In the philo- 
sophic summary it will be shown how each has grown 
out of some human need or desire, and how the 
peculiar development of each has been determined by 
the special circumstances of the case. 

In the advanced course, after the student has ac- 
quired an elementary knowledge of natural science, 
history and literature, and is somewhat conversant 
with the operations of the mind, he may take for the 
subject of his essays the historical development of art, 
including architecture, painting, sculpture, music, and 
poetry. Lastly, his attention should be called tophi- 



GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 293 

losophy, its history, and the characteristics of the vari- 
ous systems both ancient and modern. 

Reading exercises are not to be confined to the 
school text-books. A wide variety of supplementary 
reading leading directly into the great fields of thought 
should be used to break up the monotony of drill 
in school readers and induce a habit of mind which 
spontaneously rejects puerile or demoralizing writings. 

The technical details of language, including read- 
ing, spelling, the use of capitals and punctuation, are 
progressively taught in all the previously described ex- 
ercises of the language course, and should be thoroughly 
mastered and automatically observed in practice before 
the pupil enters on the study of grammar. 

Language as a science deals with abstract logical 
relations and principles, and hence properly belongs to 
a more advanced stage of culture than that required 
by the Nature studies. In most schools grammar is in- 
troduced much too early, but at the present time many 
teachers gradually call attention to the parts of speech, 
and step by step, objectively, lead the pupil into a 
consideration of the logical relations which constitute 
the foundation of formal grammar. Rhetoric should 
follow grammar, and later systematic exercises in the 
analysis of words should receive attention. In the 
latter exercise the pupil is made familiar with the re- 
sults of philological research in regard to the forma- 
tion of words and the growth of language. By the 
careful study of his own vernacular, he obtains a 
knowledge of the roots derived from all the languages 
which enter into the English ; he gets the nice and 
discriminating use of words which is usually sought in 



294 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

the study of a foreign language ; and he acquires a 
power of etymological analysis which will be of great 
use should he continue his linguistic studies. While 
study of this kind cannot take the place of thorough 
culture in the classic languages it will be found an 
excellent preparation for such culture, and of much 
greater practical value than superficial classical study. 

Manual Arts. — Under this head, as suited to the 
use of schools, will be found all the occupations of the 
kindergarten — drawing, painting, modeling in clay, 
writing, tool- work, cooking, gardening, sewing, and all 
the manipulations of objects incident to the study of 
science. We must not assume that manual training 
has been wholly lacking in the schools. The manual 
arts in all times have had some share in the process 
of obtaining ideas, and have been still more generally 
employed in expressing them. The advocates of man- 
ual training, however, urge upon the teacher a much 
more extended and systematic training of the hand. 
The next step in the improvement of school-work lies 
in this direction, and cannot much longer be delayed 
without danger of discredit to the whole school system. 

Instruction in the manual arts is in the experi- 
mental stage as regards many of its phases. So far as 
these arts are subordinate, and are used incidentally, in 
gaining and expressing ideas, the methods have been 
determined by the practice of the best teachers, and a 
general uniformity prevails. Such manual arts as cook- 
ing, gardening, and sewing, which require instruction 
independent of the other branches of study, will need 
further time to develop the methods of training best 
suited to educational needs. 



GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 295 

Drawing and modeling in clay have long been mat- 
ters of experiment in many of the best schools, and 
teachers will find a plan of work, based on sound 
educational principles, in actual operation which they 
will do well to study before arranging a course of in- 
struction. 

Mathematics. — By means of the various branches of 
mathematics, quantitative relations become known and 
are expressed. Directly derived from the concrete 
sciences, they are indispensable to the complete mas- 
tery of them ; and throughout the entire school course, 
their pursuit should exactly keep pace with that of the 
sciences. 

The practice of allowing the mathematical studies 
to monopolize so much time, or to be pursued greatly 
in advance of the sciences in which they have their ori- 
gin and to the investigations of which their chief value 
is owing, is not encouraged. 

Coarse in Mathematics. — In the primary grades the 
elements of numbers should be taught by means of 
objects, and the pupil should be drilled upon simple 
combinations until the fundamental operations of arith- 
metic are thoroughly mastered. The best exercises for 
practice are derived from the work in science, and the 
natural interest awakened by this method will be of 
great advantage in securing attention. Throughout 
the entire course this principle should be observed. 

The drill derived from the mastery of the ordinary 
practical arithmetic is considered sufficient in this di- 
rection. The curiosities of numbers exhibited in the 
so-called higher arithmetic are wholly omitted. 

In the academic course, algebra, geometry, and 



296 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

trigonometry should be thoroughly mastered so far as 
their fundamental principles and processes are con- 
cerned, and each step should be illustrated by examples 
which will serve to connect scientific demonstration 
with daily experience. The principles of geometry 
and trigonometry should be applied to surveying, to 
mensuration, and to mechanics and astronomy suffi- 
ciently to unfold the elements of these sciences. 

In a complete, philosophic system of education the 
cultivation of the taste to an appreciation of the beau- 
tiful in all its forms is considered as important as the 
cultivation of the mental and moral faculties to an 
appreciation of the true and the good respectively. 
Taste, however, is rather the outcome of the whole 
course than of any special line of instruction ; and 
the training suited to our public schools carries us but 
a little way on the road leading to production in the 
fine arts. 

Cultivation of Taste. — Good taste is promoted by 
attention to the accepted rules of behavior, to neatness 
of person and clothing, to color in dress, in the decora- 
tion of the schoolroom, to color and form in the fur- 
niture, and to the harmony and fitness of all the sur- 
roundings, both in school and home. In this connection 
the cultivation of flowers and their use in decoration 
may be made effective. 

In all the purely literary studies the development of 
a critical taste is kept constantly in view. The pupil is 
so directed as to recognize the beauty of the literary 
forms, created by the great poets and the masters of 
literature. 

Drawing, too, throughout the course is valued not 



GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 297 

merely as a means of expressing ideas of form, of edu- 
cating the eye and hand, but as an aid to culture of 
the artistic sense. Pupils should be taught to draw 
directly from objects in Nature, and to make such 
combinations of form as will lay the foundation for 
creative art. We must not concern ourselves as teachers 
with the cultivation of taste in any one-sided direction, 
as, for example, in music, form, or color. The same 
spontaneous discrimination in moral relations should be 
recognized in its merely outward manifestation as essen- 
tial to good taste. 



CHAPTER XV. 

COUNTRY SCHOOLS, AND THEIR ORGANIZATION. 

Comparative Standing. — In city and country the 
objects of education are alike, but the conditions of the 
two are so dissimilar that the schools are necessarily 
unlike in organization and general methods. The ag- 
gregation of pupils in the city allows of a gradation 
and division of labor quite impossible in the country ; 
and the concentrated wealth of the city gives superior 
advantages in the way of school-houses and all the ap- 
pliances of education. Still there are compensations 
in the country ; and in excellence of results country 
schools, intelligently conducted, approach nearer the 
ideal standard than is possible for city schools. 

The low condition of schools in many parts of the 
country is owing in part to intrinsic defects, and in 
part to accidental causes. The former can be much 
ameliorated and the latter removed by making the 
most of all favoring conditions, and by a wise adminis- 
tration that fully comprehends their needs. 

Advantages. — The advantages of situation possessed 
by country schools will be more and more appreciated 
as instruction progressively approximates to rational 
methods. In the country the study of natural history, 

(298) 



COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 299 

the foundation of all primary instruction, can be carried 
on without cost for material ; and as the children are 
daily brought into immediate contact with Nature, the 
study may be made doubly interesting and profitable. 
The growth of mind is a slow process, requiring periods 
of alternate activity and rest. The perpetual din and 
motion in the city stimulates mental activity, but there 
is no opportunity for the rest which the quiet of the 
country affords. If the proper means are taken to 
awaken the mental powers, the conditions of health- 
ful mental growth greatly preponderate in the country 
schools. There devolves upon the teacher, however, 
the duty of arousing thought, to prevent the mental 
stagnation which comes from uncultivated perceptions, 
and the narrowness incident to limited experiences. 

Another advantage in country life favorable to schol- 
arship is the general mingling "bf work and study. Both 
boys and girls have something to do as well as some- 
thing to learn ; and when the work is limited to the 
proper amount, and not pushed to the point of exhaus- 
tion, it becomes a source of additional intellectual vigor. 
Teachers who have had experience in both city and 
country schools, with great unanimity, testify that the 
pupils hi the latter take greater interest and make 
greater progress in a given time. This is doubtless 
owing in part to the work, which affords a natural 
outlet to their activities and gives them motive and 
vigor, and in part to the shorter terms of country 
schools. 

Dr. Seguin, the eminent physiologist and physician, 
advocates out-door study as the most conducive to bod- 
ily health and mental vigor. He thinks pupils from a 
21 



300 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

very early age should be brought in direct contact with 
Nature, and no lesson should be given in-doors that can 
be given without. To accomplish this end he proposes 
to make the public parks of the city great educational 
institutions, where Nature may be studied at first hand. 
While this plan may not be practical at present, it indi- 
cates the direction of the improvements which are de- 
manded for education. In the country are found the 
conditions which this improved system of education 
calls for to a much greater extent than in the city, 
and it seems possible that country schools will soon 
take the lead in reducing these ideas to practice. 

Defects. — The greatest intrinsic disadvantage of 
country schools is the limited number of pupils, and 
the consequent impossibility of a proper system of grad- 
ing. Pupils of all ages and degrees of advancement 
meet in the same room, each grade diminishing the op- 
portunities of the other : primary and advanced instruc- 
tion go on together, mutually interfering with each 
other ; and so wide a range of employment is given to 
the teacher that he cannot become an expert in any de- 
partment, and he fails to do justice to any class. While 
these evils are incident to the situation of country 
schools, the ill effects may be diminished by greater 
flexibility in organization and administration. 

Boards of Control. — That organization has proved 
the most successful which has brought several schools, 
as those of a township, under one board of control. 
The advantages which this system has over that of sin- 
gle districts are a more intelligent management, the 
employment of better qualified teachers, the erection 
of better school-houses, greater care in the preserva- 



COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 301 

tion of school property, a wiser supervision, and a more 
equable distribution of taxes. When the board is in- 
vested with the power of grading and establishing 
central schools for the higher classes, and when they 
exercise this power judiciously, the greatest inherent 
defect of the country school system is largely over- 
come, and the schools in efficiency are made to ap- 
proximate very closely to the city schools. The 
teacher may also do much to diminish the evils of 
mixed schools, by reducing the number of classes to 
the minimum, by more frequent general exercises, by 
the adoption of rational instead of mechanical methods, 
and by the more general introduction and practice of 
written work. The other evils connected with country 
schools are wholly remediable by the State, the district, 
and the teacher. 

School-houses. — In many parts of the country the 
condition of the school-houses and the premises about 
them is a disgrace to the community. A building 
made ugly to the extreme of parsimony in its con- 
struction, affording no adequate protection from the 
elements, destitute of ordinary comforts within, and 
wanting in the conveniences demanded by decency 
without, is the place where all the children of the 
district are to pass their school-days, and receive the 
most durable impressions of their lives. The only 
satisfaction to be gained from a consideration of this 
matter is in the fact that improvements are being 
made, and that these conditions, so disreputable to 
the people who are responsible for them, are under- 
going a change for the better. 

The school-house should be conveniently and pleas- 



302 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

antly located, and well built. It should afford ample 
protection from the weather, and it should he arranged 
for the comfort of the pupils. Attention should he 
specially given to the admission of light, and to the 
heating and ventilation, so that a uniform temperature 
may be preserved, and an ample supply of pure air 
secured. At the present time there can be no reason- 
able excuse for poisoning pupils with foul air. In other 
respects the schools should be supplied with those con- 
veniences which are considered indispensable to re- 
spectable households. The country school has a high 
mission here. All the conditions should conform to 
the standards dictated by science, and thus afford a 
most valuable object-lesson in some important details 
of practical life. 

Apparatus and Boohs. — Another defect in the 
country schools generally is the want of the apparatus 
and books necessary for successful instruction. No 
man would think of employing a farm-laborer without 
supplying him with the tools for farm-work ; and it is 
no less absurd to expect a teacher to do the best work 
without apparatus than to expect a laborer to make the 
best crop without a plough and other farm-implements. 
The neglect in this direction is in part owing to a mis- 
taken notion in regard to the importance of apparatus, 
and in part to the desire to reduce the expenses to the 
lowest possible amount. Economy, however, it is easy 
to show, is on the side of wise and proper expenditure, 
as by it the efficiency of the schools is so greatly in- 
creased. 

Costly apparatus is not needed in the average coun- 
try schools. Most of the things needed to illustrate 



COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 303 

instruction can be collected by teachers and pupils at 
very little expense. The things which are indispensa- 
ble to the best results are a globe, a set of outline maps, 
local maps of the town and county, a large amount of 
excellent blackboard, and a cabinet containing speci- 
mens sufficient to illustrate the elements of the different 
departments of natural history, and the different manu- 
factures. The books indispensable are an unabridged 
dictionary, a comprehensive history of the United 
States, a biographical dictionary, and some brief en- 
cyclopaedia of science. An encyclopaedia of general 
knowledge, freely used by pupils, would so multiply 
the general results of education as to pay for itself each 
year. After the books enumerated have been provided, 
the expenditure of a small sum each year will soon 
procure a valuable library of reference which will be 
a source of enlightenment not only to the school, but 
to the whole neighborhood. 

Short Terms. — Another of the disabilities under 
which the majority of the country schools labor is the 
short terms of instruction. While the city schools usu- 
ally continue in session ten months each year, the coun- 
try schools average but little more than one-half of that 
time. The opportunity for education is thus less than 
it should be, and intelligence is correspondingly less. 
By irregularity of attendance also there is a failure to 
make the best of the opportunities offered, and the 
amount of possible good to be derived from the schools 
is still further diminished. 

The sessions that would seem most suitable to the 
conditions of the country are a term of eight weeks be- 
ginning about the 1st of September, a session of twenty 



304 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

weeks beginning from the 1st to the 10th of November, 
and a session of eight weeks beginning about the 1st of 
May. This would give thirty-six weeks of school, which 
could be extended to forty weeks by making the inter- 
mediate vacations less. By this arrangement the long 
continuous term is in winter when there is the least de- 
mand for labor, and the long vacation is in midsummer, 
so as to avoid exposure of children to the great heat and 
to give teachers time for recreation in the form of rest 
and study. Since the experiment of Agassiz, at Peni- 
kese, summer schools for teachers are springing up all 
over the country, and the terms of the country schools 
should be so arranged that country as well as city teach- 
ers may be able to attend them. 

Change of Teachers. — In most country districts the 
older pupils attend school only in winter, and the sum- 
mer term is made up mostly of the younger ones, con- 
stituting in reality a primary department. This condi- 
tion of affairs has given rise to the custom of changing 
teachers each term, employing a higher-priced teacher 
in winter than in summer. This custom works injury 
to the schools in numerous ways. No two teachers have 
exactly the same methods of instruction, and it always 
takes time for pupils to get accustomed to the new meth- 
ods, and hence there is a waste of time at the advent of 
every new teacher. At the close of the short term the 
teacher has become thoroughly acquainted with the pe- 
culiarities of the pupils and of the district, so as to be 
able to perform the best service ; but at the commence- 
ment of the next term another comes in, and the process 
of making the acquaintance of the pupils is repeated. 
Teachers employed for only a single term at one place 



COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 305 

take comparatively little interest in their work, and have 
but little incentive to improvement. The people, accus- 
tomed to migratory teachers, show them scant courtesy 
or ignore them altogether, and the school is altogether 
lacking in that mental vigor and high moral tone which 
would result from the interest and cooperation of teach- 
er, pupil, and parent. 

The true policy in regard to the employment of 
teachers would seem to be the payment of the highest 
wages that the district can afford, the standard of abili- 
ty to pay being an enlightened appreciation of the value 
of education ; the employment of the best teacher which 
the money will secure ; and the retention of the teacher 
for the longest possible time. All proper encourage- 
ment and facilities should be given the teacher for at- 
tending Institutes and special summer schools, and a 
lively interest should be shown by the parents in the 
teacher's work. A new idea or a new method intro- 
duced should be judged by its results, and not de- 
nounced in the outset. By careful attention to the 
selection and moral support of the teacher, the value 
of the schools may be more than doubled. 

Qualification of Teachers. — The one thing indis- 
pensable to the success of a school is a good teacher. 
In comparison, the functions of all other officers are of 
little moment ; and could we be sure of a supply of 
competent teachers, superintendents and examiners 
would at once become superfluous, and directors would 
be useful only in furnishing necessary supplies for the 
schools. Practically, however, it is found that all 
teachers are not properly qualified, and that the ut- 



306 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

most vigilance must be exercised continually to keep 
aspiring incompetence out of the schools. All the 
machinery of superintendence and of examinations is 
devised to this end ; but when the competent teacher 
is once secured, the work of the school goes on with- 
out the aid or interference of any other person. 

Scientific Knowledge. — The first and lowest qualifi- 
cation demanded of teachers is that they shall have a 
knowledge of the branches which they are expected to 
teach. It is not enough to be able to read, and so 
ascertain from the text-book whether the pupils repeat 
the text accurately, but the knowledge should be so 
thorough that text-books would never be a necessity 
in recitation. The knowledge demanded for the suc- 
cessful conduct of even a primary school is varied and 
extensive. 

Officers who have charge of the examination of 
teachers have curious experiences in the discharge of 
their duties. Persons are continually presenting them- 
selves as candidates for certificates, who cannot spell ; 
who make fearful blunders in reading the easiest narra- 
tive ; who are not able to solve the simplest problems 
of arithmetic outside of the accustomed routine, and 
who continually blunder in expression both orally and 
in writing. Such persons are usually very persistent in 
their demands, and not unfrequently the refusal of a 
certificate is followed by the denunciation of the office. 
The literary qualifications now demanded for a first- 
grade certificate are the least that any teacher of any 
grade of school should possess. 

General Culture. — Besides the technical knowledge 
of the branches to be taught, teachers should have a 



COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 307 

wide and varied culture in matters of general human 
interest. It lias been well stated that no person can be 
in full possession of his own powers until he is ac- 
quainted with the history of the past ; and certainly it is 
scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of his- 
torical knowledge in promoting the interest and effi- 
ciency of the school. This knowledge in its widest 
sense includes every department of literature ; and there 
is no form of literary attainment that may not be turned 
to advantage in school processes. 

This general culture should include also a knowledge 
of the present state of affairs in the leading countries of 
the world. Our morning newspapers bring us intelli- 
gence fresh from every known part of the earth, but a 
wide knowledge of present history is necessary to profit 
by this intelligence ourselves and to turn it to good ac- 
count in teaching. Teachers in possession of this knowl- 
edge can make profitable use of newspapers, magazines, 
and everything that relates to current events, and the 
value of the school will be vastly increased by such 
processes. 

The Mental Powers. — A knowledge of the mental 
powers, their modes of activity, their limitations, and 
the order of their development, is indispensable to the 
highest success in teaching. Without this knowledge 
good instruction may be given, but the processes are 
necessarily empirical and the work that of mere routine. 
With it, teachers have a key to most of the educational 
problems that are continually coming up for solution ; 
they have a principle to guide them in new experiences ; 
they can adapt their work to the needs of the pupils, 
and adjust courses of study to produce the best results; 



308 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

they are sufficient for any emergency that may arise in 
instruction, and they are not driven to make doubtful 
experiments which may increase the evils rather than 
diminish them. 

Professional Knowledge. — The teacher should in 
every instance possess very thorough knowledge of 
the economies of instruction, such as organization, 
classification, tactics, and discipline. Organization in- 
cludes the general scope of the instruction, the course 
of study, and the proper distribution of the studies as 
far as time is concerned ; classification has reference to 
the division of the school on the bases of attainment 
for the purpose of recitation ; tactics considers the 
movements of pupils, so that there shall be no inter- 
ference, and no time wasted ; and discipline has to do 
with the means to secure order and promote the best 
interests of the school. Experienced teachers have 
written upon all these topics, treating them from both 
the theoretical and practical points of view ; and there 
are now so many valuable treatises readily accessible 
that no teacher can have an adequate excuse for neglect- 
ing them. 

The means of professional culture are within the 
reach of every teacher. The cost of instruction at Nor- 
mal Schools is usually less than at other schools where 
the same branches are taught, and these schools are now 
provided in nearly all the States. In some of the States, 
in addition to the Normal Schools, there are teachers' 
classes in academies and high schools, where tuition is 
free. Another agency for the instruction of teachers is 
the Teachers' Institute, now held annually in each coun- 
ty in those States where much attention is given to 



COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 309 

school matters. The lowest demand that should be 
made upon teachers in regard to these agencies for pro- 
fessional culture is that they should attend the pro- 
fessional course of a normal school or academy before 
commencing their work, and that they should be con- 
stant in their attendance upon Institutes after entering 
upon their duties, and should take an active part in the 
exercises. 

Self -Improvement. — It is incumbent upon all teach- 
ers to continually study and improve themselves. This 
is especially true in regard to those who, for any cause, 
have been deprived of the opportunity for a thorough 
professional preparation. The new subjects investi- 
gated should be in the direction of natural history, 
mental philosophy, and general history and literature, 
as these are most neglected. Several of these subjects 
may be taken up in direct connection with school-work, 
and the improvement of the teacher made incidental to 
his class-duties. For example, a teacher has never 
studied botany, and he wishes to give some elementary 
instruction to a class of children upon plants. He would 
do well to procure some little work like Miss You- 
mans's " First Book in Botany," or Gray's " How 
Plants Grow," for the purpose of getting the method 
of study. 

The summer schools for professional instruction 
afford teachers an admirable opportunity for studies in 
the direction pointed out, and it becomes a question of 
grave moment whether a teacher who neglects these 
opportunities, or who has not sufficient energy to over- 
come the ordinary difficulties in the way of attending 
these schools, has the desire for improvement, the 



310 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

energy, and the will, which are necessary to success- 
ful teaching. 

Details of Work. — The course of study prepared for 
country schools should be founded upon the same gen- 
eral principle as that for graded schools, given at 
length in the chapter upon " Course of Study." It 
is necessary, however, to condense the longer course in 
regard to time, and the studies to be pursued, so as to 
adapt it to the needs and conditions of the country 
schools. The problem to solve is to prepare a course 
that shall broaden the present instruction, introduce 
more rational methods, provide for more practical 
work, and stimulate teachers to higher endeavor, and 
at the same time not to set the standard so high as to 
be unattainable by a majority of teachers now em- 
ployed, and so to act as a discouragement rather than 
an incentive to effort. The changes in the present 
practices which are proposed are entirely practical, as 
has been proved by actual trial in many schools, and 
there is no good reason why the better results which 
will follow from the adoption of this improved course 
may not be realized in all parts of the country. 

The Alphabet. — Pupils should be taught to read by 
the sentence methods : The unit of attention is the 
sentence. By this method the letters and words are 
learned incidentally, while the pupil is intent on the 
thought represented, and the least possible amount of 
time is directly spent for this purpose. 

Reading. — Sentences should always be read as a 
unit, and the pupil should not be permitted to pro- 
nounce each word as though disconnected from the 
others. In all primary reading, pupils should fully 



COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 311 

understand the thought before trying to express it. 
They should never be allowed to read what they 
cannot understand, and they should always express 
the thought from the book, as they would the same 
thought in conversation. By observing these simple 
directions, the conventional school-drawl may be broken 
up, root and branch, and an onerous mechanical ex- 
ercise may be changed into an interesting and intelli- 
gent one. 

Spelling. — An almost complete revolution is recom- 
mended in teaching the art of spelling. As soon as the 
pupil learns a sentence, let him be taught to copy it 
on the blackboard. This copying of lessons from the 
chart and book should be continued as a daily exer- 
cise for at least three years, although it will not be 
necessary to copy all the lessons. Before the close of 
the first term, the pupil should also commence writing 
descriptions of objects, beginning by telling one thing 
and adding one detail after another until full descrip- 
tions are given. In this way spelling and penmanship 
are both taught incidentally while other lessons are 
studied, and the time for teaching them directly is 
saved. By this method the pupil never guesses at the 
spelling of a word ; never spells orally except with the 
written or printed characters before him ; never hears 
or sees a misspelled word ; and he spells every word he 
knows correctly. The words that he does not know, 
he does not try to spell until he has looked them out, 
and this leads to good spelling all the time. 

Object- Lessons. — The object-lessons are systematized, 
and from the very first are made to include the elements 
of the sciences. They are made so progressive that any 



312 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

teacher of ordinary intelligence can give them, and 
gradually become acquainted with the science of which 
they form a part in the way already pointed out. 
More or less time may be given to this part of the 
instruction, depending upon the condition of the school 
and the skill of the teachers. It may be made to con- 
stitute the best half of teaching, awakening mental 
activity and storing the mind with the most useful 
knowledge. These object-lessons may frequently be 
made general for the whole school, thus effecting an- 
other saving in time. 

Rural Affairs. — It is a fact much to be deplored 
that in country schools there are no exercises which take 
into consideration country life. The occupation which 
absorbs the greater part of the life of the people, and 
all its varied and contingent interests, are scarcely recog- 
nized in school -work. Children fresh from the farm, 
with an extensive but unsystematized knowledge of the 
farm processes, and an active interest in them, are set to 
tasks which have no relations to these activities, and 
which usually are abstract and uninteresting. A rational 
system of instruction would seem to indicate that the 
first step in the school-work shall be to make the child 
conscious of what he already knows, to arrange the 
knowledge in proper order, and to stimulate observation 
and inquiry in the very direction in which the mind 
has already been developed. 

These country children know a great deal about 
plants, their names, their forms, their uses, and their 
manner of growth. A little guidance only is necessary 
to awaken a great interest in the general subject of 
plant-life, leading on by short steps to systematic botany 



COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 313 

and vegetable physiology. They know also a great deal 
about domestic animals, their characteristics, their habits, 
and their products. Starting from this knowledge it is 
easy to lead them to make further investigations in the 
same direction, cultivating their perceptive powers in 
the most efficient manner, and storing their minds with 
knowledge that reaches out toward the material world 
on the one side, and toward the phenomena of life upon 
the other, and indispensable as a basis to a wide and 
general culture. The knowledge which the child has 
in regard to bees and other insects ; to the succession of 
farm processes from seed-time to harvest ; to the manip- 
ulations necessary to produce a crop and prepare it for 
the market ; and to the processes and products of 
household labor and economy — all can be turned to 
good account in the process of education, doubling 
the interest in study and increasing the products many 
fold. As a result of such a system of instruction chil- 
dren would find rural life full of interest in all seasons 
of the year. 

In following this method, the teacher is but obeying 
one of the most fundamental of all the laws of mental 
development, proceeding from the known to the un-* 
known, and making the previous experience of the child 
the basis for its future growth. Besides the advantage 
to the child itself, this method aids education in other 
ways. It takes away from instruction the reproach of 
being unpractical, it excites an interest in all school 
affairs on the part of parents, and it leads to continually 
more intelligent action in home and farm affairs. We 
may hope it will also have the effect of leading to a 
higher appreciation of country life and of arresting the 



314 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

present tendency of migration toward the cities, and of 
the abandonment of the farms for trade or for the 
professions. " Abandoned farms" are in the last analy- 
sis but a result of discontent, either with the meager 
profits of farming or with the dullness of the farmer's 
life. More attention to Nature Studies and a better 
training in the Manual Arts should go far to remove 
the causes of this discontent. If the farmer is as well 
trained for his work as the mechanic he will succeed as 
surely, and he will find even his odd moments precious. 



APPENDIX. 



THE STOKY OF A SCHOOL.* 

BY JAMES JOHONNOT. 

In this age of wholesale educational machinery the 
faithful record of any school, individual in its character, 
ought to be of interest to all who seek better results in 
practical ability than our present systems of instruction 
succeed in giving. But when the school departs widely 
from recognized standards, its record is of double value, 
as calling in question prevalent customs, and affording 
a new criterion for the judgment of current methods. 
The tendency of instruction is to become set in its ways. 
Teachers follow precedent and reach formalism. 

But from time to time particular individuals are 
found who ask the reason of this or that practice, and 
call in question its value as a means of culture. Hence 
arose the " teachers' institutes " in this country. They 
were first organized in the State of E"ew York, in 1846. 
They grew naturally out of the progress in liberty of 
thought. Time-worn methods of teaching were brought 
up for discussion, and judged by their results and in 
the light of reason. 

Credit is surely due the founders and conductors of 
institutes, in that they brought about and persisted in 
this habit of questioning and discussing educational 

* Republished from the " Popular Science Monthly," February, 
1889. 

22 (315) 



316 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

practices and principles. This was their special field of 
work. Their method was the true one, but the laws of 
life and of mental development were not then well 
enongh understood, even by the best thinkers, to fur- 
nish safe guidance in this difficult work. 

" The new education " means a revolt against all 
precise, ready-made forms, and an "adoption of such 
methods as science may from time to time discover and 
point out. The " Story of a School " tells of the trials 
and triumphs of an experiment designed to test educa- 
tional principles at which I had arrived through many 
fears of " institute " instruction. In this constant com- 
paring, discriminating, and sifting of methods I had 
obtained a special preparation for normal-school work. 
Herbert Spencer, in his treatise on education, had laid 
a solid foundation for scientific education, and Prof. E. 
L. Youmans had with voice and pen succeeded in arous- 
ing among thinking people a lively interest in the sub- 
ject. 

In the year 1872, through the agency of the Hon. 
John Monteith, Superintendent of the Schools of Mis- 
souri, I received a call to take charge of the newly es- 
tablished normal school at Warrensburg in that State. 
In the interview with Mr. Monteith I said suggestively 
to him, " You do not want me, and your board of re- 
gents will not want my services when they learn the 
conditions I shall exact." " What may these be ? " said 
he, with some curiosity in his tone. " Entire control 
of the school, without interference from the superin- 
tendent or from the regents," was my reply. Laugh- 
ing, said he, "You are the very man we want," and 
added, by way of caution : " You understand that lib- 



THE STORY OF A SCHOOL. 317 

erty implies responsibility. Give us right results, and 
we wil] trust to you for methods." I accepted the situ- 
ation, and took up my work under circumstances sin- 
gularly propitious to the experiment I was about to 
make. 

The first thing that engaged my attention was the 
preparation of a course of study. It was an easy matter 
to select the required document from the catalogue of 
some noted institution, or I might have made a mosaic, 
adopting parts from several. A brief inspection of 
various catalogues showed that little thought had been 
bestowed upon the order of subjects in the course. One 
study might be made to take the place of any other, 
without the slightest disturbance in their relations. Of 
the natural order of growth in mind, and of the corre- 
sponding sequences in the sciences, they had taken no 
account. To these laws I now turned for guidance, 
and tried to forget that a school curriculum had e^er 
been constructed, so that custom should in no wise 
interfere with the free play of philosophic principles. 

The subjects were arranged in their order of de- 
pendence as determined by comparative science. The 
course of study thus worked out differed quite materi- 
ally from the ordinary, in spirit and in principles. It 
emerged as an organic whole, rather than as a loose 
array of disconnected subjects. 

The physical sciences had first place, their treat- 
ment beginning with an observation of material objects 
and passing to a consideration of forces and of the laws 
of physical relations. 

Another line of study treated of man and his en- 
vironment. It began with a consideration of man as 



318 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

an inhabitant of the globe, dealing with geography, and 
it led up through history, literature, civil government, 
to mental and moral philosophy, and later on to rhetoric, 
logic, and political economy. 

Besides these two main lines of thought there were 
two subordinate ones, dealing respectively with lan- 
guage as a science and with mathematics. In our 
treatment of language the widest departure from the 
customary was made. Latin and Greek were excluded, 
as the State University already offered a much more 
complete course in the classics than our school could 
hope to give. But a still weightier reason constrained 
me in this decision. The time at our disposal for lin- 
guistic study was needed chiefly for constructive work 
in the vernacular. 1 determined to make the study of 
English thorough. I realized the power gained by an 
accurate and easy mastery of our own tongue, and I 
fully appreciated the aesthetic value of English litera- 
ture in the cultivation of a refined and discriminating 
taste. 

The constructive work was so managed that fa- 
miliarity with composition preceded analysis, and the 
principles and rules of language were developed out of 
the pupil's own work. Grammar came out of language, 
not language out of grammar. The critical work of 
grammar and rhetoric was placed in the advanced course 
along with logic. 

In this spirit, and by the general method here indi- 
cated, the whole course of study was arranged. The 
place occupied by each subject was not a matter of 
accident, but of philosophic dependence. The success 
of my scheme demanded intelligent and harmonious 



THE STORY OF A SCHOOL. 319 

co-operation on the part of the faculty. I needed a 
select corps of teachers, and the freedom of choice 
secured to me by Mr. Monteith now proved of great 
importance. 

For my first assistant I chose Prof. L. H. Cheney, 
who some years later was accidentally killed while 
making an excavation in connection with the work of 
a geological expedition under direction of Prof. Shaler, 
of Harvard. In years long gone by Prof. Cheney had 
been a pupil of mine ; later we had worked together, 
so that I knew well his peculiar worth and fitness for 
the place. 

Next came Prof, and Mrs. Straight, representatives 
of the most advanced thought of the time in educa- 
tional philosophy. They brought original and fruitful 
contribution to the work now in progress, and hence- 
forth were to me as my right and left hand. At the 
close of his stay in Missouri, Prof. Straight was called 
to the charge of a department in the Oswego Normal 
School. Later he went with Colonel Parker to the 
Cook County Normal School, Illinois. He gave all 
the energy of an intense nature to his profession, but 
died in middle life, his mind a storehouse of educa- 
tional material ripe for use. Mrs. Straight's refined 
intelligence and professional skill found equally ready 
appreciation, and she took a high position in each of 
these normal schools. Since her husband's death, she 
has been called to a responsible position in one of the 
state schools of Japan. The remaining members of 
the faculty were chosen for their fitness in special direc- 
tions. The plans of each had their recognized place in 
a co-ordinate work. One of the chief defects in col- 



320 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

leges and academies to-day is this lack of co-ordination. 
Without it the scientific method in its integrity is im- 
possible, and instruction proceeds as though each sci- 
ence were independent. Time and strength are labori- 
ously frittered away, with the result of chronic discour- 
agement on the part of both professor and students. 

" I declare," said one of our most observant pupils, 
as he came out from recitation one day, " the teaching 
in all the classes is somehow alike ! It makes no differ- 
ence whether we are in natural science, mathematics, or 
language, we are going the same road, and each lesson 
throws a new light upon all the others." 

When the summer school at Penikese was organ- 
ized, we made prompt application for a share in the 
rare opportunities offered. Only fifty students could 
be accommodated. Three of our teachers received the 
appointment, and accompanied me across Buzzard's Bay 
on that eventful summer morning in 1873. Agassiz 
" the master " was there, his face hopeful and inspiring. 
The last and noblest experiment of his life was about 
to be tried, and everything promised success. The 
promise was fulfilled. The many summer schools of 
science springing up all over the land are the direct 
offspring of Agassiz's realized dream ; and the increas- 
ing recognition of the fundamental value of science by 
numerous prominent schools is also largely a result of 
his Penikese experiment. Our teachers again, the sec- 
ond summer, made haste to profit by the advantages of 
the Penikese school, and returned to their work in Mis- 
souri with added skill and devotion. 

Our pupils represented every class of society. We 
opened with seventeen, and rapidly increased till the 



TI1E STORY OF A SCHOOL. 321 

roll contained four hundred names. "Within the limits 
of this paper only the bare outlines of our methods can 
be given. "We began with the properties of things. 
The gardens and fields were open to us and furnished 
us the objects. When familiar with these and their re- 
lations, books were brought in to extend our knowledge 
beyond the limits of personal experience. The zoology 
and physiology classes, under Prof. Straight, were at 
once engaged in laboratory practice. They obtained 
their knowledge of the animal world from direct obser- 
vation and through actual dissections. The neighbor- 
hood was laid under contribution for cats. Any feeling 
of repugnance at first shown for the work soon passed 
away as interest in the study grew eager and absorbing. 
The absurdity of rote-teaching was shown by an inci- 
dent in the professor's class-room. 

One day he called the attention of the class to the 
description of a certain sea-animal, as given in a popu- 
lar text-book. This description he asked the pupils to 
commit to memory, which they proceeded to do, won- 
dering why. One morning, only a few days later, the 
table was furnished with a specimen of this same ani- 
mal preserved in alcohol. Not a member of the class 
recognized it. The elaborate verbal definition had 
given them no correct idea of the animal, if, indeed, 
any image whatever had been present in their minds. 

In botany, books were unopened, except to aid in 
analysis. Materials for study the students found in 
their walks, and the keen delight awakened when ex- 
amination revealed to them this new world of facts left 
no doubt that this was the very method of Nature. 
The study went deeper than systematic botany, and led 



322 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

to an extended investigation of life processes in the 
plant. 

Physics was tanght in the laboratory and illustrated 
by apparatus which teachers and pupils united in mak- 
ing. This proved of double value ; for, while primarily 
it helped to solve the problem in physics, incidentally 
it constrained the pupil to test knowledge previously 
gained by its practical application. The inventive 
powers were also stimulated, and a long step was taken 
in the development of faculty. 

The teacher of geometry followed the method of 
Prof. Kriisi, of Oswego. This, in essentials, is the 
same as that outlined by Herbert Spencer in his work 
on education. It was developed incidentally out of the 
needs of constructive art, and was carried forward 
slowly, as the gradual progress of the pupil called for 
further applications of its principles. It was specially 
gratifying to witness the cheerful activity of pupils in 
this line of work, so often dreaded and shirked, and to 
watch the stimulating effect of power gained in master- 
ing a difficult problem. 

Drawing came in everywhere, being a mode of ex- 
pression as natural as language, and indispensable to 
the acquirement of clear ideas ; pupils soon made con- 
stant use of it, though, from lack of early training, 
their efforts had no pretensions to artistic merit. 

Our lessons took various forms, depending upon the 
object we had in view. In the development exercises, 
by a series of questions quite in the Socratic spirit, we 
brought together the wandering, disconnected ideas 
which the class possessed upon any subject, and di- 
rected attention to the more obvious relations. The 



THE STORY OF A SCHOOL. 323 

pupils were then left to work over the lesson, and ar- 
range and present it in dne order. This process became 
a guide, and pointed out the way for the next step in 
investigation. Lessons of instruction were usually 
given in the form of lectures. We, however, varied 
this exercise by substituting for the formal lecture a 
more or less familiar conversation, in which, after a 
little, all pupils took part. 

Topical recitations included all knowledge obtained 
from books or reported from investigation. Day by 
day pupils were called upon to tell what they knew of 
given subjects in clear and connected discourse. The 
words of the text-book were not accepted ; so every 
lesson became a language-lesson of the most practical 
kind. As a matter of fact, we found that, whenever a 
new thought was clearly understood, the mind sought 
expression in some form, either through constructive 
work, drawing, or language, and was not content until 
it had clearly imparted its meaning to another mind. 
The mental circuit was then complete. 

In this reaching out after words and forms individ- 
ual character asserted itself, the imagination was awak- 
ened, the invention quickened, and the dead monotony 
of the old-school recitation disappeared completely. 
This training finally resulted in an unusual mastery of 
spoken language. 

Written work held a large place in our school. 
Our plan made provision for at least one written exer- 
cise a day for each pupil. As these exercises were in 
connection with the studies pursued at the time, the 
pupils entered upon them without any consciousness 
that they had begun the dreaded composition. Lessons 



324 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

from text-books, and aided by books of reference, were 
treated topically, and were frequently written ont. In- 
vestigations in science were reported in writing, and in 
due time the pupils came to think easily and naturally, 
pen in hand. 

In another regard we made a serious innovation 
upon custom. The teachers were not required to cor- 
rect the wearisome mass of papers prepared daily. For 
this we had good reasons. The free use of criticism is 
a dangerous practice. It paralyzes the imagination of 
the pupil, and so depresses and discourages him that 
original constructive work is next to impossible. And 
if, as so often happens through the training given, the 
critical faculty of the pupil is developed in advance of 
the constructive ability, and of the power to use lan- 
guage with ease and accuracy, the result is fatal to 
progress in composition. The first rude efforts fall 
so far short of the polish demanded by the critical 
spirit that the sense of discouragement is overmas- 
tering. 

There is still another view of the case that makes 
for the same distrust of promiscuous criticism. The 
errors of the early compositions are soon naturally and 
spontaneously outgrown through the constant effort at 
clearness of expression, and through the rapidly in- 
creased power over language gained by this continuous 
practice. In this way the mastery of language came 
incidentally, and we avoided the stiff awkwardness of 
the conventional composition. 

In the study of English we did what we could to 
awaken the literary sense to some degree in all our pu- 
pils. We knew that each one came into the world with 



THE STORY OF A SCHOOL. 325 

definite mental limitations. The literary sense, like 
any other form of the artistic faculty, seems, with rare 
exceptions, to require several generations of culture in 
a scholarly atmosphere before it attains to a fine dis- 
crimination. But we could at least make a real begin- 
ning. We could find out the present state of their 
taste, and carry forward their development by guiding 
their course of reading. Advantage was taken of 
events to bring before them some special poem, or 
some impassioned prose composition, having relation to 
the event in question. We could thus awaken a sus- 
ceptibility of the soul, that through repeated impres- 
sions would develop into an instinctive sense of the 
beauty of true literary art-forms. 

This was our aim, and quite subsidiary to this was 
the acquisition of knowledge about literature. The 
history, bibliography, and philosophy of English litera- 
ture must come later instead of usurping the first place, 
as is commonly the case in schools. 

In language, Prof. Campbell prepared an exercise 
which proved of great value. He selected about three 
hundred of the most productive roots of English words, 
and gave them one by one to the class. They traced 
these roots back to the various languages entering into 
the English tongue, and thus acquired a broader view 
of the origin and relations of English words. The 
study thus bestowed upon the vernacular was further 
valuable as furnishing a basis for the study of other 
languages. 

When the student in Latin, French, or German 
finds that a large number of the new words he is learn- 
ing have the roots with which he is familiar in his 



326 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

mother-tongue, the difficulties of his work are greatly 
diminished. 

Mental and moral philosophy were taken np object- 
ively and without the aid of books. Prof. Straight 
first developed the relations which knowledge sustains 
to mind, and the action of mind under varying condi- 
tions. He then took up some familiar subject and called 
upon the class to apply the knowledge thus far gained. 
For example, a flower was brought in and analyzed ac- 
cording to the laws of systematic botany. Then came 
introspection : what powers of mind had been used, and 
in what order ? A lesson in geometry came next, and 
this was followed by the other school studies, until the 
list was exhausted. Next came the industries: what 
mental powers are brought into play in raising a crop, 
in building a house, in boiling a potato, in the making 
of bread ? By this plan mental philosophy was lifted 
out of the fog of dreary abstractions and set on its feet 
in the broad light of every-day life. 

Moral philosophy fell to my share. No books were 
used. My methods were quite similar to those of Prof. 
Straight. In a series of discussions, extending over 
several weeks, the human being was taken where Prof. 
Straight left him, and the relations developed that ex- 
isted between him and other human beings. Needs 
were shown to exist by virtue of the " constitution of 
things," and deeper than this we did not attempt to go. 

Human beings were seen to be potentially equal 
in needs, hence the necessity for equality before the 
law, that all might have opportunity for their natural 
development. Out of needs grew rights, and out of 
rights duties. A study of experience soon showed that 



THE STORY OF A SCHOOL. 327 

duty assumed two phases — positive and negative. Con- 
fucius is credited with a maxim covering the ground of 
negative duty — forbidding injury to your neighbor. 
Jesus enunciated a law that summarized both positive 
and negative duty. 

Next, the principles derived from this preliminary 
study were applied to the conditions which exist in 
school, home, and neighborhood. Why should a per- 
son work ? What time should be given to recreation ? 
What shall we do with the tramp ? what with worthy 
but destitute men and women 8 what with needy or- 
phans ? 

The discussion was conducted almost solely by the 
pupils. When it took too wide a range, the teacher 
quietly led it back to the question at issue. The lesson 
on one occasion dealt with card-playing. One young 
woman charged that it led to gambling and bad com- 
pany. To this another replied that she had often played 
but never for money, nor had she the least inclination to 
gamble. As for bad company, she played with her sis- 
ter, who was no worse company at the card-table than 
at the dinner-table. When I found that the discussion 
had become a mere assertion of opinion, I interposed : 
" You seem to disagree. Why ? " " Yes," said one, 
who recalled my method of treating such cases, "we 
have not facts enough to enable us to form an intelligent 
opinion." " But," said another, " what is your opin- 
ion ? " " My opinion is not the question. What are 
you to do next ? " Wait, observe, and continue to 
study, was the conclusion. 

Our history grew out of our geography, and as we 
labored to build up in the mind of the pupil a connected 



328 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

and distinct picture of the skeleton — the mountain sys- 
tem of the globe — and then clothed these gaunt outlines 
with the trailing robes of continental divisions, showing 
also the necessary dependence of the water systems 
upon the great backbone of the continents, so in history 
we aimed at a unity of conception, we sought to develop 
an historic sense, which, once acquired, serves as a guide 
through the mass of unrelated facts filling so large a 
space in historical works even of the higher order. 
This kind of training is too complex for description 
here. 

And so of our methods of discipline : they were all 
intricate and intimate parts of our whole work. We 
had no rules, no class-markings, no roll of honor. "We 
rejected the whole military system, as tending to pro- 
duce mechanical, routine work. The abrupt tone of 
command was not heard within our walls. Directions 
were given in the form of requests. Teachers and 
pupils observed toward each other the usual courtesies 
of social life. No premium was offered for study. We 
relied on the natural incentives. Exercise of faculty is 
the chief source of pleasure in the young, and we fur- 
nished abundant scope for it. The time being filled 
with pleasurable occupations, calling into activity the 
whole nature, there was less temptation to misdemean- 
ors than in the ordinary conditions of home life. 

Herbert Spencer's essay on moral education will 
best describe the work as it went on in our school, sub- 
ject to the imperfections of human nature, it is true, but 
with a result in general most gratifying. 

The school as a whole soon attained a character of 
its own, derived from the aggregate of its members, 



THE STORY OF A SCHOOL. 329 

and, reacting upon them, it became a potent force in 
stimulating the moral growth of individuals. This ag- 
gregate moral power was exerted for the most part un- 
consciously, but it was effective, and in time reached 
proportions which rendered my interference unneces- 
sary. 

An incident will here illustrate the operation of this 
power. A youth entered our school who had formerly 
been employed as train-boy upon the railroad. His ex- 
periences had greatly sharpened wits naturally keen, 
and as he came among us he was plainly seen to be an 
alien element. His evil propensities soon showed them- 
selves. He told foul stories, but could get no listeners. 
He tried to pick quarrels with the younger members of 
the class, but a quiet word from one of the older pupils 
soon put an end to that ; and, finally, he became angry 
and disgusted, and took himself away permanently. I 
watched this affair with much interest as a psychologi- 
cal experiment, but with some anxiety lest the moral 
leprosy should spread ; but the character of the school 
told, and I was superfluous. 

Another instance discloses something of the spirit 
prevailing among our students. The use of tobacco 
was discouraged incidentally in a variety of ways. We 
had a beautiful new building, and great care was taken 
to preserve it free from filth of any kind. A tobacco- 
stain, when observed, was removed at once with scrub- 
bing-brush and sand. The physiology class, too, came 
upon the question of the action of tobacco upon the 
tissues of the body, and, besides, there was felt to be a 
social discredit in its use. One evening, while waiting 
for the mail at the post-office, a number of students on 



330 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

the same errand gathered about, and our talk turned 
on school matters. Allusion was made to our freedom 
from the restraint of rules. A late comer remarked : 
" But you have one rule, I understand. No one must 
use tobacco on the school premises." I assured him 
that, though I was opposed to the use of tobacco, I did 
not prohibit it. "But," I said, "no gentleman will 
soil the floor of a room occupied by ladies; and this 
fact, being understood, prevents its use more effectu- 
ally than a positive prohibition." So powerful was the 
social reprobation of this filthy habit, that forty young 
men, of their own will, gave up the practice. It will 
thus be seen that our moral training, too, was largely 
incidental ; it was implicit in every detail of school - 
life. 

As will already have been anticipated, we dispensed 
with all distinctive religious services. I had carefully 
observed the effect in school and college throughout a 
long period of years, and had been forced to conclude 
that the evil results vastly outweighed the good. I 
had noticed that stated Bible-reading often became a 
mere lifeless form, in which many took no interest. 
This was contrary to the whole spirit of my system. 
"Yain repetitions," leading to a habit of regarding 
words apart from thought, were to be carefully avoided. 
Then, again, the teachings were dogmatic, appealing to 
authority, while science regards authority as an imper- 
tinence. Besides, the Constitution of the United States 
places its whole machinery upon a strictly secular basis, 
and religious services in a State school are there upon 
sufferance. No matter how carefully guarded, the 
daily performance of any religious service degenerates 



THE STORY OF A SCHOOL. 331 

into formalism, and excites in the community sectarian 
animosities. 

But, above all, I wished to place morals upon a 
scientific basis, so as to furnish a safe guide to conduct, 
independent of the shifting standards of theological 
belief. We, who received our appointments from the 
State, could not, honestly, either promote or attack any 
form of religious belief. Happily, the scientific method 
equally forbids doing either of these things, and, if 
strictly adhered to, will prevent all possibility of such 
quarrels between religious sects as have recently agi- 
tated Boston, and have from time to time interrupted 
the work of many schools in this country. 

Our position on this question occasioned wide- 
spread comment, and, among the clergy of the more 
ignorant and bigoted sects, there arose an opposition, 
instinctive rather than outspoken. 

The Missionary Society voted us a Bible, and I 
received a formal note from the secretary announcing 
the fact, and requesting me to appoint a time for the 
presentation to take place. I had been informed pri- 
vately that, as soon as I fixed the time, a public meeting 
was to be called, and an address made denouncing our 
neglect of religious observances. In answer to the 
secretary, I informed him that our library was richly 
supplied with Bibles, but that, as a token of confidence 
and good- will, their gift would be highly prized, and 
we would gratefully receive the promised Bible at the 
president's office in the normal-school building, at such 
time as was most convenient to the secretary. The 
Bible never came. 

Prof. Campbell, of our faculty, gave testimony of 
23 



332 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

considerable significance concerning the moral atmos- 
phere of onr school. He had been educated in a sec- 
tarian college, and had been graduated at a theological 
seminary. All his prejudices were enlisted in favor of 
a daily religious service. He said : " I am at a loss to 
account for the uniform good feeling existing between 
teachers and pupils here. No student seems disposed 
to annoy or vex a teacher, and the moral tone of the 
school is much higher than I have before known." At 
first he had thought that the good-will prevailing was 
in spite of the omission of religious services, but a 
more careful study had convinced him that the system, 
in its integrity, had created the moral atmosphere that 
pervaded the school. 

Examinations, as usually conducted, had proved 
fruitful of serious evils. They gave opportunity for 
cram, and were often an occasion for cheating. When 
formal and stated examinations are held, on which class 
promotion depends, there is a strong inducement to 
make spasmodic efforts of memory serve in place of 
sound learning. We avoided these evils by a simple 
device. Examinations were held at irregular intervals, 
and were of such a nature that no miraculous feat of 
memorizing could meet onr requirements. Repetitions 
of text-book formulas were habitually in disfavor, and 
necessarily there grew up habits of genuine study. 
These reviews were found sufficient aids in testing 
progress, and we dispensed with all other examinations. 

After some effort toward conformity to prevailing 
custom, we found ourselves constrained by the guiding 
principles we had adopted to devise some more genuine 
representation of our year's work than is possible in 



THE STORY OF A SCHOOL. 333 

" closing exercises " of the regulation pattern. Essays 
upon the subjects usually chosen had no essential rela- 
tion to the student's past researches, and, being pre- 
pared for the occasion, represented nothing in particu- 
lar. Besides, they are not uncommonly doctored by 
the teacher of rhetoric till they are of doubtful origi- 
nality. We finally dispensed with all special prepara- 
tion, and discarded all the spectacular features of the 
ordinary commencement. 

One day was given to the public. Every four 
weeks during the year our pupils had been accustomed 
to select some subject having close relation to their 
studies, and to give time and care to the preparation of 
an essay upon it. These papers were preserved, and 
from among them each member was required to choose 
and bring one. On the last day of the term the public 
came in, and those interested stayed and listened to the 
reading of these essays. The truthfulness of every step 
was plain to all concerned, and was thus in accord with 
the spirit of the school. 

Our experiment came to an end. Of the various 
innovations made upon custom each had justified itself. 
The effort to make character the end of education had 
more than fulfilled expectation. During the last year 
not a single case of misconduct was reported to me, nor 
was the behavior of one of our students criticised by 
the citizens. We had a reign of influence. The forces 
that govern conduct came from a growth within of 
just and kindly impulses. A watchful supervision had 
always been maintained, but into this had entered no 
element of espionage. The peculiar character which 
the school attained, both on its mental and moral side, 



334 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 

was due to the several factors of influence — scientific 
methods in study, philosophic succession of subjects, 
and a never-ceasing but an apparently incidental atten- 
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IS TOR Y OF THE PEOPLE 

OF THE UNITED STATES, 

from the Revolution to the Civil 

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HE DA WN OF CI VI LIZA TION. (Egypt and 
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IFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND ASSYRIA. 

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NEW EDITION OF PROF. HUXLEY'S ESSAYS. 

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Vol. VIII.— DISCOURSES, BIOLOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL. 

Vol. IX.— EVOLUTION AND ETHICS, AND OTHER ESSAYS. 

" Mr. Huxley has covered a vast variety of topics during the last quarter of a 
century. It gives one an agreeable surprise to look ever the tables of contents and 
note the immense territory which he has explored. To read these books carefully 
and studiously is to become thoroughly acquainted with the most advanced thought 
on a large number of topics." — New York Herald. 

" The series will be a welcome one. There are few writings on the more abstruse 
problems of science better adapted to reading by the general public, and in this form 
the books will be well in the reach of the investigator. . . . The revisions are the last 
expected to be made by the author, and his introductions are none of earlier date 
than a few months ago [1893I, so they may be considered his final and most authorita- 
tive utterances." — Chicago Times. 

" It was inevitable that his essays should be called for in a completed form, and they 
will be a source of delight and profit to all who read them. He has always commanded 
a hearing, and as a master of the literary style in writing scientific essays he is worthy 
of a place among the great English essayists of the day. This edition of his essays 
will be widely read, and gives his scientific work a permanent form." — Boston Herald. 

"A man whose brilliancy is so constant as that of Prof. Huxley will always com- 
mand readers ; and the utterances which are here collected are not the least in weight 
and luminous beauty of those with which the author has long delighted the reading 
world." — Philadelphia Press. 

"The connected arrangement of the essays which their reissue permits brings into 
fuller relief Mr. Huxley's masterly powers of exposition. Sweeping the subject-matter 
clear of all logomachies, he lets the light of common day fall upon it. He shows that 
the place of hypothesis in science, as the starting point of verification of the phenomena 
to be explained, is but an extension of the assumptions which underlie actions in every- 
day affairs; and that the method of scientific investigation is only the method which 
rules the ordinary business of life." — London Chronicle. 



New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue. 



D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 



MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF HERBERT SPENCER. 

(^OCIAL STATICS. New and revised edition, in- 

**-) eluding " The Man versus The State," a series of essays on 

political tendencies heretofore published separately. i2mo. 

420 pages. Cloth, $2.00. y 

Contents. — Happiness as_ an Immediate Aim. — Unguided Expediency. — The 
Moral-Sense Doctrine. — What is Morality ? — The Evanescence [? Diminution] of Evil. 
— Greatest Happiness must be sought indirectly. — Derivation of a First Principle. — . 
Secondary Derivation of a First Principle. — First Principle. — Application of the First 
Principle. — The Right of Property. — Socialism. — The Right of Property in Ideas. — 
The Rights of Women. — The Rights of Children. — Political Rights.— The Constitution 
of the State. — The Duty of the State. — The Limit of State-Duty. — The Regulation of 
Commerce. — Religious Establishments. — Poor-Laws. — National Education. — Govern- 
ment Colonization. — Sanitary Supervision. — Currency, Postal Arrangements, etc. — 
General Considerations. — The New Toryism. — The Coming Slavery. — The Sins of 
Legislators. — The Great Political Superstition. 

"Mr. Spencer has thoroughly studied the issues which are behind the social and 
political life of our Own time, not exactly those issues which are discussed in Parliament 
or in Congress, but the principles of all modern government, which are slowly chang- 
ing in response to the broader industrial and general development of human experience. 
One will obtain no suggestions out of this book for guiding a political party or carrying 
a point in economics, but he will find the principles of sociology, as they pertain to the 
whole of life, better stated in these pages than he can find them expressed anywhere 
else. It is in this sense that this work is important and fresh and vitalizing. It goes 
constantly to the foundation of things." — Boston Herald. 



E 



DUCATION ; Intellectual, Moral, and Physical 

i2mo. Paper, 50 cents ; cloth, $1.25. 

Contents: What Knowledge is of most Worth? — Intellectual Education. — Moral 
Education. — Physical Education. 

^nHE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. The fifth volume 

-» in the International Scientific Series. i2mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

Contents: Our Need of it. — Is there a Social Science?— Nature of the Social 
Science. — Difficulties of the Social Science. — Objective Difficulties. — Subjective Diffi- 
culties, Intellectual.— Subjective Difficulties, Emotional. — The Educational Bias.— The 
Bias of Patriotism. — The Class- Bias. —The Political Bias. — The Theological Bias.— 
Discipline. — Preparation in Biology. — Preparation in Psychology. — Conclusion. 

7^HE INADEQUACY OF "NATURAL SELEC- 
TION." i2mo. Paper, 30 cents. 

This essay, in which Prof. Weismann's theories are criticised, is reprinted 
from the Contemporary Review, and comprises a forcible presentation of 
Mr. Spencer's views upon the general subject indicated in the title. 



New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue. 





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